Dead The inventor of the evening crosses Juhani Salmenkylä is dead – a versatile athlete was the team leader when the basketball team made a sensational result in 1964

Experienced sports influencer Juhani Salmenkylä has died at the age of 90 years. Salmenkylä died on Wednesday morning. The information was confirmed to Helsingin Sanomat by Juhani Salmenkylä’s daughter Hilkka Salmenkylä.

Salmenkylä became known as a successful navigator in his sports career. He was winning the European Championship in Communication Orienteering in 1964. At the first World Orienteering Championships in 1966, Salmenkylä participated in the Finnish silver team. Salmenkylä also played as a referee in basketball in Tokyo.

Finns Salmenkylä was significantly affected by the exercise when he and his brother Matti Salmenkylän with the idea in 1977 of the Evening Crosses, which became a successful product. Evening races are still held, 45 years later.

In basketball, Salmenkylä won six Finnish championships in the Panthers. At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Salmenkylä was the team leader of the Finnish national basketball team. The national team’s survival at the Olympics was a sensational result of its time. In 2015, Salmenkylä was named an honorary gallery of Finnish basketball.

Alongside his sports career, Salmenkylä graduated as a lawyer and deputy judge and set up his own law firm.

Helsingin Sanomat in a 90th anniversary interview with Salmenkylä in March Salmenkylä reminded of the importance of team sports.

“Today, it is understood that team sports are the salt of sports. Fellowship in sports never reaches the same level in individual sports as in team sports. It’s a great feeling when a team thinks together about the tactics of an upcoming match and commits to it. ”

Juhani Salmenkylä (left) was filmed at the 1968 World Orienteering Championships together with Bertil Norman. Picture: Olle Lindborg