Finland at the 1960 Summer Paralympics

Finland competed at the inaugural Summer Paralympic Games in 1960 in Rome. Like Rhodesia and Ireland, it sent only one competitor: swimmer Tauno Valkama. He entered a single event, the 50m crawl (class 4), and won gold - giving his country a perfect success rate for its first Paralympics.^[1]

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
Gold	Tauno Valkama	Swimming	Men's 50 metre crawl complete class 4

Just like all other events at the 1960 Paralympics, swimming races were held with no more than three swimmers per event, thereby guaranteeing a medal to every swimmer completing his or her race. In his sole event, Valkama competed against two Americans: R. Maduro and Hall (full names not recorded).

Valkama was a clear winner, completing the race in exactly 51 seconds, making Finland's only medal at the 1960 Games a gold. Maduro finished in 57.7s, beating his compatriot for silver; Hall swam the race in 59.8s, for bronze.^[1]

• Finland at the 1960 Summer Olympics

• International Paralympic Committee official website