Sometimes even the old plans work surprisingly well. With the Olympic Games planned for 1940 in mind, a poster competition was organized in 1938. The prize was shared between three participants, Ilmari Sysimetsä, Jorma Suhosen and Henry Czarnecki. Then the Winter War broke out.
A new design competition was organized in 1950 for the 1952 Olympics. The jury of the competition included the aforementioned Sysimetsä and Henry Czarnecki. Just like the first time, it was decided to reward three proposals again. The works that participated in the competition were presented to the public at the Messuhalli exhibition in Helsinki. Yes, and even though a couple of large posters in cardboard boxes have been preserved from the competition, the subscribers did not find a single usable one among them... So it was time to go back to square one.
With the fewest voices, the organizing committee of the Olympic Games announced that they would use Ilmari Sysimetsä's proposal The Flying Finn from 1938 as their logo poster. Karelia was only slightly reduced and the other arm of Finland was removed from the map, and the matter was taken care of.
The poster is ingenious in its simplicity: the flying Finn Paavo Nurmi runs Finland onto the world map in the character of Wäinö Aaltonen's sculpture. A reference to ancient sports competitions can be found in the masculine runner figure. In the background you can see the globe on which little Finland is positioned.
- Artist: Ilmari Sysimetsä
- Originally published: 1938
- Best regards! The postcards are printed with offset technology in Finland on high-quality Finnish cardboard.
