Career
Kolehmainen"s victory was Finland"s only gold medal at those games. By now established as Finland"s strongest kayak sprinter, he concentrated in the K-1 500 m discipline. Although a respected competitor at international regattas he never really threatened the top paddlers for the major prizes.
At the 1991 World Championships in Paris he finished a creditable seventh.
A year later he showed that his Barcelona performance was no fluke by winning the world championship K-1 500 m title in Copenhagen. At his farewell Olympics, in Atlanta in 1996 he finished in seventh place, and carried the flag at the opening ceremony.