IN: Nurmi was born in Turku, Finland, to carpenter Johan Fredrik Nurmi and his wife Matilda Wilhelmiina Laine. Nurmi's siblings, Siiri, Saara, Martti and Lahja, were born in 1898, 1902, 1905 and 1908, respectively. In 1903, the Nurmi family moved from Raunistula into a 40-square-meter apartment in central Turku, where Paavo Nurmi would live until 1932. The young Nurmi and his friends were inspired by the English long-distance runner Alfred Shrubb.

Less than three days before the 10,000 m, a special commission of the IAAF, consisting of the same seven members that had suspended Nurmi, rejected the Finn's entries and barred him from competing in Los Angeles. Sigfrid Edstrom, president of the IAAF and chairman of its executive council, stated that the full congress of the IAAF, which was scheduled to start the next day, could not reinstate Nurmi for the Olympics but merely review the phases and political angles related to the case. The AP called this "one of the slickest political maneuvers in international athletic history", and wrote that the Games would now be "like Hamlet without the celebrated Dane in the cast." Thousands protested against the action in Helsinki. Details of the case were not released to the press, but the evidence against Nurmi was believed be the sworn statements from German race promoters that Nurmi had received $250-500 per race when running in Germany in autumn 1931. The statements were produced by Karl Ritter von Halt after Edstrom had sent him increasingly threatening letters, warning that if evidence against Nurmi is not provided, he "will unfortunately have to take stringent action against the German Athletics Association."  On the eve of the marathon, all the entrants of the race except for the Finns, whose positions were known, filed a petition asking Nurmi's entry to be accepted. Edstrom's right-hand man Bo Ekelund, secretary general of the IAAF and head of the Swedish Athletics Federation, approached the Finnish officials and stated that he might be able to arrange for Nurmi to participate in the marathon outside the competition. However, Finland maintained that as long as the athlete is not declared a professional, he must have the right to participate in the race officially. Although he had been diagnosed with a pulled Achilles tendon two weeks earlier, Nurmi stated he would have won the event by five minutes. The congress concluded without Nurmi being declared a professional, but the council's authority to disbar an athlete was upheld on a 13-12 vote. However, due to the close vote, the matter was postponed until the 1934 meet in Stockholm. Finns charged that the Swedish officials had used devious tricks in their campaign against Nurmi's amateur status, and ceased all athletic relations with Sweden. A year earlier, controversies on the track and in the press had led Finland to withdraw from the Finland-Sweden athletics international. After Nurmi's suspension, Finland did not agree to return to the event until 1939.  Nurmi refused to turn professional, and continued running as amateur in Finland. In 1933, he ran his first 1500 m in three years and won the national title with his best time since 1926. At the IAAF meet in August 1934, Finland launched two proposals that lost. The council then brought forward its resolution empowering it to suspend athletes that it finds in violation of the IAAF amateur code. With a 12-5 vote, with many not voting, Nurmi's suspension from international amateur athletics became definite. Less than three weeks later, Nurmi retired from running with a 10,000 m victory in Viipuri on 16 September 1934. Nurmi remained undefeated in the distance throughout his 14-year top-level career. In cross country running, his win streak lasted 19 years.
QUESTION: Did the petition work out in Nurmi's favor?
IN: Mellencamp is of German ancestry. He was born with spina bifida, for which he had corrective surgery as an infant. Mellencamp formed his first band, Crepe Soul, at the age of 14 and later played in the local bands Trash, Snakepit Banana Barn and the Mason Brothers. When Mellencamp was 18, he eloped with his pregnant girlfriend Priscilla Esterline.

Country music star Keith Urban has consistently cited Mellencamp's influence on his music. It originated when Mellencamp's Lonesome Jubilee tour went to Australia in 1988; Urban was in attendance at one of the concerts and described the experience as an "epiphany."  "'I Need A Lover' and 'Hurts So Good' were massive hits in Australia", Urban told the Vancouver Sun in 2016. "I played so many of those songs in my cover bands. But for me, The Lonesome Jubilee was the defining record and tour. I've since gotten to know John a little bit and it was one of the greatest opportunities I've ever had to meet a hero and tell him about a concert you went to when you were a nobody and how much of an effect that concert had on me.  "I just remember that moment: Here's that full-on rock section, with Kenny Aronoff on drums and Larry Crane a rock guitarist with swagger. But there was also Lisa Germano on fiddle, they had an accordion player, there was an acoustic guitarist. I was hit by lightning by that concert. I said to John, 'I didn't walk away thinking: I want to do that. I walked away feeling: I get it -- just put all the things you love into what you do.' It was singularly the most important concert I've ever been to in my life because it showed me the way."  Urban went into more detail on the impact Mellencamp's Lonesome Jubilee Tour concert had on him when CMT asked him about the concert that most influenced him: "The most impactful one for me was probably John Mellencamp in '88 or '89 on the Lonesome Jubilee Tour. It was singularly the most epiphany experience I'd ever had at a concert. Prior to that, from the age of 6 or 7, I was somewhere in between Top 40, country and, 'Who the hell am I and what do I do?' But The Lonesome Jubilee came out. I loved 'Paper in Fire' and 'Check It Out' because it was such a melting pot of things. But when I went to see him live, his band was so phenomenally good. Great, great band. And I remember watching the concert - and the light went off. There's a rock rhythm section, but there's acoustic guitar, electric guitar. This fiddle, this accordion. He's singing these rural lyrics, but he's got swagger and attitude for days. It was like everything came together. I got to talk to John years later, and I said to him how much that concert changed my life. I didn't leave that concert thinking 'I want to be Mellencamp.' I went away going, 'Take all of your influences and make your own thing.' It was such a liberating experience for me."  Urban has covered numerous Mellencamp songs in his concerts over the years, including "Hurts So Good", "Jack and Diane", "Authority Song", and "Rumbleseat". In 2015, Urban and Mellencamp performed "Pink Houses" together twice during nationally televised events. Urban's 2015 hit single "John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16" further illustrated Mellencamp's influence on his music.
QUESTION:
What else did he say to John