†
Paavo Aaltonen was a gymnast who competed for Finland. He competed at the 1948 and 1952 Summer Olympic Games. He passed away on 9 September 1962 at the age of 42.
Despite all the medals being decided in a single team final, Aaltonen was still able to put his mark on the competition in 1948. In a very close all-around team final, Finland beat Switzerland by only 1.6 points after 6 events, with the biggest deciding factor being the vault, which was won by Aaltonen. Even in the all-around individual competition, the top Swiss and Finnish competitors were close, with champion Veikko Huhtanen and bronze medalist Aaltonen within a point difference, followed by Josef Stalder on 0.1 points. He also had to share his gold medal of the pommel horse with two of his compatriots, Heikki Savolainen and Veikko Huhtanen. He finished 7th in the parallel bars, 12th in the horizontal bar, 27th in the still rings, and 29th in the free exercise.
Four years later, in his home country, the Soviet Union took part for the first time, but was already considered one of the great powers in the sport. Aaltonen was not able to position himself between the strong Soviets and the Swiss, who occupied every spot of the top 11 of the individual all-around, and most of the top positions of the individual apparatus. Aaltonen finished 20th in the individual all-around, as the third-highest Fin. On many of the apparatus, he finished between 30th and 40th, except for the horizontal bar, where he was only five-hundredths of a point from the top 10.
Olympic Results[]
| Year | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Men's individual all-around | 
|
| Men's team | 
| |
| Men's floor | 29th | |
| Men's vault |
| |
| Men's parallel bars | 7th | |
| Men's horizontal bar | 12th | |
| Men's rings | 17th | |
| Men's pommel horse |
| |
| 1952 | Men's individual all-around | 20th |
| Men's team |
| |
| Men's floor | 24th | |
| Men's vault | 35th | |
| Men's parallel bars | 27th | |
| Men's horizontal bar | 11th | |
| Men's rings | 38th | |
| Men's pommel horse | 40th |
1948[]
| Discipline | Score |
|---|---|
| Floor | 36.50 |
| Vault | 39.10 |
| Parallel bars | 38.80 |
| Horizontal bar | 38.40 |
| Rings | 37.30 |
| Pommel horse | 38.70 |
| Individual all-around | 228.80 |
| Team | 1358.30 |
1952[]
| Discipline | Score |
|---|---|
| Floor | 18.55 |
| Vault | 18.50 |
| Parallel bars | 18.65 |
| Horizontal bar | 19.15 |
| Rings | 18.45 |
| Pommel horse | 18.10 |
| Individual all-around | 111.40 |
| Team | 564.20 |