The gold went to Trinidad's Keshorn Walcott with a sensational throw of 84.58. Finland's favourite for the competition, Tero Pitkämäki, came fifth in the competition with a throw of 82.80 metres.
Describing his achievement to Yle, Ruuskanen said he was elated that all his hard work and training had paid dividends.
"Since childhood, I've always aimed to get an Olympic medal. The gold was close but I'm very satisfied with the bronze," he explained.
At least two million Finnish viewers were glued to their TV sets to watch Ruuskanen take the bronze medal. This exceeds a previous viewing figure of 13 million for the Mens 100 metre final last week.
