Finland at the 1908 Summer Olympics Finland at the 1908 Summer Olympics Finland competed at the Summer Olympic Games for the first time at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The Grand Duchy of Finland was part of the Russian Empire at the time, but Finland had become a sovereign member of the International Olympic Committee in 1907. Verner Weckman became the first Finn to win an olympic gold. He was also the first Finn to win a gold at the 1906 Intercalated Games. 28 Finns won a medal at the games. No women entered from Finland. Aarne Salovaara and Johan Kemp competed in
Water motorsports at the 1908 Summer Olympics Water motorsports at the 1908 Summer Olympics At the 1908 Summer Olympics, three motorboat racing events were contested. Various sources refer to the sport as "water motorsports", "motor boats", and "power boating". These Games were the only one to feature motorized sports; although it was featured in 1900, those events were deemed by the IOC in later years to be non-Olympic. All three events used the same distance, five laps around an 8 nautical mile course for a total of . In each of the events, multiple boats started but only one finished, due primarily to the gale that was