Iivari (Ivar) Rötkö, born 26 January 1893, died 1957, was a Finnish long-distance runner.
Rötkö was also ranked fourth in the 10,000-metre run, preceded by the Finns Paavo Nurmi and Eino Rastas and the Chilean Manuel Plaza.
He was one of the favourites to win the marathon at the 1928 Summer Spartakiad in Moscow, but the Finnish authorities denied his passport application.
[2] Three years later Rötkö defected from the left-wing Finnish Workers' Sports Federation (TUL) to the bourgeois Finnish National Sports Federation (SVUL) in order to race the marathon at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Rötkö failed to enter the Olympics as he completed fifth in the qualifications and soon decided to end his career at the age of 39.