The Finnish Championships in Athletics, which are known as Kalevan kisat in Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

, were first held in Tampere

Tampere

Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...

 in 1907. Since then, they have been held in a different location every year. In the beginning, women were not allowed to compete in the Finnish Championships.

The Kaleva Cup

In 1909, the personnel at the life insurance

Life insurance

Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger...

 company

Company

A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...

 Kaleva donated a trophy called the Kalevan malja or the Kaleva Cup to be awarded to and kept for until the next Championships by the team accumulating the most points during the competition.

In 1909, the Finnish Championships started to be informally referred to as the Kaleva Games because of the name of the cup. At the Championships held in Pori

Pori

Pori is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäenjoki river, which is the largest in Finland. Pori is the most important town in the Satakunta region....

 in 1915, the magazine Suomen urheilulehti started to call the competition the Kaleva Games in its headlines. In 1937, at the Championships held in Vyborg

Vyborg

Vyborg is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Bay of Vyborg, to the northwest of St. Petersburg and south from Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland...

, the Finnish athletics federation

Federation

A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...

 called Finnish Athletics (Suomen Urheiluliitto in Finnish) formally declared the name of the Finnish Championships to be the Kaleva Games.

History

Edition	Venue	Dates
2000 2000 in athletics (track and field) This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2000.The primary athletics competition for the 2000 season was at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.-World:...	Lahti Lahti Lahti is a city and municipality in Finland.Lahti is the capital of the Päijänne Tavastia region. It is situated on a bay at the southern end of lake Vesijärvi about north-east of the capital Helsinki...	17.08.2000 – 20.08.2000
2001 2001 in athletics (track and field) This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2001.The foremost competition of the season was the 2001 World Championships in Athletics in Edmonton, Canada...	Turku Turku Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...	06.07.2001 – 08.07.2001
2002 2002 in athletics (track and field) This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2002.There was no primary championships that season, although continental championships were held in Africa, Asia and Europe. The foremost athletics competitions at...	Joensuu Joensuu Joensuu is a city and municipality in North Karelia in eastern Finland. It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of North Karelia region. It was founded in 1848...	18.07.2002 – 21.07.2002
2003 2003 in athletics (track and field) This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2003.The foremost competition of the year was the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, followed by the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships...	Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...	09.08.2003 – 11.08.2003
2004 2004 in athletics (track and field) This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2004.The major competition of the year was the 2004 Summer Olympics. At the event, Yelena Isinbayeva cleared a world record 4.91 m in the pole vault...	Vaasa Vaasa Vaasa is a city on the west coast of Finland. It received its charter in 1606, during the reign of Charles IX of Sweden and is named after the Royal House of Vasa...	30.07.2004 – 01.08.2004
2005 2005 in athletics (track and field) This page shows the main events during the 2005 year in athletics throughout the world.-World:* World Championships* World Athletics Final* World Cross Country Championships* World Half Marathon Championships* World Youth Championships...	Pori Pori Pori is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäenjoki river, which is the largest in Finland. Pori is the most important town in the Satakunta region....	15.07.2005 – 17.07.2005
2006 2006 in athletics (track and field) The following events in athletics took place in 2006:-Championships:* March: 2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships * March: 2006 Commonwealth Games...	Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Jyväskylä is the capital of Central Finland and the largest city on the Finnish Lakeland, north-east of Tampere and north of Helsinki, on northern coast of lake Päijänne. The city has been continuously one of the most rapidly growing cities in Finland since World War II. The city is surrounded...	21.07.2006 – 23.07.2006
2007 2007 in athletics (track and field) This article contains an overview of the sport of athletics, including track and field, cross country and road running, in the year 2007.-World:*World Championships in Athletics*World Athletics Final*World Cross Country Championships...	Lappeenranta Lappeenranta Lappeenranta is a city and municipality that resides on the shore of the lake Saimaa in South-Eastern Finland, about from the Russian border. It belongs to the region of South Karelia. With approximately inhabitants Lappeenranta is the largest city in Finland...	03.08.2007 – 05.08.2007
2008 2008 in athletics (track and field) -International events:*2008 Summer Olympic Games, held in Beijing, China*African Championships, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia*European Cup, super league held in Annecy, France*World Indoor Championships, held in Valencia, Spain...	Tampere Tampere Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...	24.07.2008 – 27.07.2008
2009 2009 in athletics (track and field) This page contains an overview of the year 2009 in athletics.The major competition of the year was the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. At the event, Usain Bolt reaffirmed himself as one of the world's foremost athletes with world records in the 100 and 200 metres...	Espoo Espoo Espoo is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. The population of the city of Espoo is . It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Kauniainen. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen....	31.07.2009 – 02.08.2009