Pekka Niemi (weightlifter), Date of Birth, Place of Birth
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Finnish weightlifter
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Lohtaja, Finland
About Pekka Niemi (weightlifter)
- Pekka Kalevi Niemi (born 14 November 1952) is a retired Finnish heavyweight weightlifter who competed at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics; he finished tenth in 1980 and won a bronze medal in 1984.Niemi took part in every major international competition between 1977 and 1984, with the best results of fifth-seventh place at the European championships of 1983–84.
- He did not expect to medal at the 1984 Olympics, and after finishing his attempts went for sightseeing.
- The officials delayed the award ceremony by a few hours trying to find him, but failed, and went ahead with the empty bronze medal platform.
- Niemi received his medal next day.
- Domestically he won 11 consecutive Finnish titles in 1977–88.
- After retiring from competitions he worked as a weightlifting coach and trained the Finnish weightlifting team in 1995–2001.
- Starting from 1985 he was also a member of the Athlete’s Commission at the Finnish Olympic Committee.
- He later worked as a special needs education teacher at the Pirkanmaa Educational Consortium in Tampere.
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