Timo and Sinikka Sahi have been experienced visitors to Munich since 1972. Just like 50 years ago, in 2022 there will be enough reason for a Finnish celebration at the Olympic Stadium.
20:31•Updated 21:03
– We sat on the back straight. Right where Lasse (Virén) crashed.
Blue Sahi recalls her husband Timon with the 10,000 meter race of the 1972 Munich Olympics, which the couple was watching in a packed stadium. Unlike now, 50 years ago there weren’t enough benches for everyone, instead there were standing places for sale.
– The decision date has been set, says Timo Sahi.
The 1972 Olympics ended on September 10. That day is an essential part of Finnish sports history, when Virén also won gold in the 5,000 meters as an extension of the 10,000 meters. It was less than half an hour later Pekka Vasalan it’s time to fan out like an Olympic champion, with a distance of 1,500 meters.
– When Lasse won the ten ton, a group of three people from Hämeenlinna sitting next to them dug out three yellow shirts from their yankee bag that read Lasse Virén, Olympic Champion 5,000 meters.
– The same shirt episode was also repeated on the final day when Lassen and Peka won. Only the trips and, in the case of Peka, the name changed on the shirts. After Peka’s gold, I asked the group how many shirts they actually had in their bag. The answer was that only from these three gold medals. I laughed with tears in my eyes, because I thought it was so incredible, says Timo.
Another reason to celebrate
Sinikka and Timo Sahi reminisce about 50 years ago in the hotel of the Finnish European Championship team on Saturday. Moments earlier, medal coffees were organized in the hotel for the European triple jump silver medalist Kristiina Mäkelän in honor of.
– I have been impressed by the atmosphere of the Finnish team, which we have witnessed. That positivity has been transmitted to us viewers here at the hotel, Sinikka says.
Before the closing day of the Munich Games, the Finnish team has already secured its biggest medal haul since the European Championships in Gothenburg in 2006, which also resulted in two golds and a silver.
– Before the Games, I thought that one medal was likely. Two is the peak and three is the maximum, says Timo.
It runs on the track
The Shahs arrived in Munich on Thursday, so Wilma Murron the pole championship had time to pass in terms of the gold performances experienced on the spot.
However, that was organized by the 3000 meter steeplechase gold medalist on Friday Top Raitanenwhich was accompanied by Mäkelä’s leapfrog silver.
The Finnish running leg has always been light when competing for prestigious medals in Munich.
In 1972, the Sahis witnessed not only Virén’s and Vasala’s gold rushes, but also Tapio Kantanen hurdle bronze as well Markku Kukkoahon and sixth places in the men’s 4×400 meter relay team. The latter two results, i.e. 45.49 and 3.01.12, are still Finnish records – the oldest such.
The Munich Olympics were significant for Sahei in many ways.
– I was 9 years old when I was with my father watching the Olympic Games in Helsinki (1952). However, in my father’s opinion, there was such a heavy traffic jam in Helsinki that he couldn’t go there. It stuck in my mind. And carve a little further. Timo Sahi from Hattula had to get to Munich.
Overshadowed by tragedy
The long wait was rewarded, but the Olympic trip to Munich left mixed feelings. On the morning of September 5 – a day and a half after Virén won the 10,000 meters – eight Palestinian terrorists from the Black September organization attacked the accommodation of the Israeli team in the Olympic village.
The hostage situation ended with the deaths of 11 Israelis, six coaches and five athletes, one West German police officer and five terrorists. The Olympic Games were suspended for a day.
– The atmosphere was scary. There was a big mourning party at the stadium. The Olympic ticket was half-staffed, Sinikka Sahi, who was trained as a historian and defended her doctorate in educational sciences, says and continues:
– I remember a caricature of the Olympic stadium in Munich, with angel-like figures hanging over it, saying that we can’t be everywhere. These pictures were already circulating before the tragedy began.
In 1972, social media was still an unknown concept, but information about the terrorist attack spread quickly through television, people’s speeches and newspapers – at that time there were several editions a day. The attack and the subsequent hostage situation lasted 21 hours.
After the tragedy, Timo Sahi participated in the memorial service organized at Marienplatz. Even though in the medical profession he had had time to face many things that might shock an ordinary citizen, now we were also on unfamiliar ground.
– It was a serious place, says Timo.
– Then came a strong message that we will not let the terrorists influence. We continue.
A special day off for the Finnish team
On their trip to Munich 50 years ago, the Sahits wanted to experience the many faces of life also voluntarily. Such was the visit to the Dachau concentration camp, located right next to Munich. There, the couple was surprised when they ran into the head coach of the Sports Association Seppo “Nitti” to Nuuttila.
– Nitti had brought part of the Finnish team to spend a day off in Dachau, which was a bit strange for us. You can take those thoughts away from sports, Sinikka Sahi says.
The couple left Munich with a large experience bank, which has since grown with positive experiences in sports competitions.
Postgraduate studies in the United States at the elite Harvard University coincided with the 1976 Montreal Olympics, to which the Sahits, who lived in Boston, drove their own car. The following Summer Olympics in Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 were also visited.
For his work, Timo Sahi has participated in all prestigious athletics competitions organized in Helsinki.
– In 1983 (World Championships) I was a line doctor, in 1994 (EC) chief doctor of Otaniemi competition village and in 2005 (MM) in charge of the medical center of the competition village.
A lot of sports experiences have been accumulated over the years, but there are even more of them when it comes to the 40 years spent in Helsinki’s Kannelmäki Kaarela.
The Sahis will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on October 20, and next year they will both turn 80 years old. When it comes to sports games, it all started at the Munich Olympics in 1972, but will the 2022 European Championships in Munich be Sahi’s last?
– We have to thank our son, who organized this for us, for this trip. At least it’s been nice. Still, says Timo Sahi.