A rare defiance was seen in the medal ceremony of Iivo Niskanen and Joni Mäki. A hat must be raised for human curiosity, writes Roope Visuri, a journalist at Sports.
ZHANGJIAKOU. What happens here, I think as I turn my gaze as I wait Iivo Niskasen and Joni Mäki turn to get parisprint Olympic medals at the Beijing Olympics.
A colleague seems to be photographed by the locals. The Chinese man seems to have wanted to take a joint picture.
My curiosity is growing. For three weeks at the Olympic bubble, I haven’t seen such activity. At first, the locals even seemed to be dodging foreigners at Zhangjiakou, which has competed in Nordic skiing, biathlon, snowboarding and freestyle.
When a week passed, the Chinese who got to Bubble found that the race guests were healthy and safe. Like the lightning strike everywhere, the locals began to greet and blink – even by the Finnish standard, a lot of trouble.
Still, I haven’t come across this.
As I get closer to the man, he notices me too. She gets excited and wants to share a picture with me. However, it doesn’t work because the man is even so eager that he pushes to the other side of the fence next to me. An employee of the race organization supervising next door is cramming the idea. The audience cannot enter the media realm, and vice versa. However, the fence is very cosmetic, when it can be easily leaned over.
The older gentleman doesn’t give up, but still wants to take a picture. This time, the picture is taken as the race worker tries to shout next to him and forbids the Chinese man from leaning over the fence. Again, I think it’s refreshing. Some local wants to make contact and maybe even a little curious wants to capture a moment when they see foreign race guests. Nothing but thumbs up for the camera!
Usually, in the celebratory speeches of the Olympics, there is a great deal of getting to know other cultures and the like as a by-product, but in a tight competition bubble it has hardly been possible. On the other hand, locals are often encountered in faceless situations, where, under the hat-like protective suits used by cleaners or corona testers, for example, little has been seen other than the eyes.
Therefore, the moment feels even a little humane, even though in this situation neither side can see the face because of the protective masks.
The race bubble has also gotten used to how the rules are followed, because someone has just said so. Even such small-scale defiance has been very rare.
There is probably nothing wrong with such an innocent moment. Rather, a hat must be raised for human curiosity.
During these races, a different way of human gestures has emerged as well Iivo Niskanen. If, as a younger promise, Niskanen turned out to be a bit of a rooster boy, other aspects have also emerged in these competitions.
In the 15 km traditional skiing competition, Niskanen came to the finish line waiting for the last skier of the competition Carlos Anders Quintana. Niskanen patted Quintana and hugged her. Niskanen wanted to show respect to everyone involved in the Olympics.
Niskanen is also known for his strong desire to win. However, even after Wednesday’s double print, Niskanen smiled exceptionally after receiving the silver medal. And no reason. Norwegian winners Erik Valnesia and Johannes Hösflot Kläboa would have been difficult to defeat.
The same thing continued at the awards ceremony. Niskanen was by no means the hardest man. That title went to a Russian competitor who won a bronze medal Alexander Bolshunovwhich for most of the ceremony drew a face with very basic readings.
Niskanen and Mäki, on the other hand, were constantly smiling in the glow of the blue neon lights. Also more than the silver neighbors of the western neighbor about women’s pair printing.
Namely, interesting moments were seen in the distribution of women’s awards. Jonna Sundling and House Dahlqvist at first the silver medals around his neck just smiled or rejoiced at the cameras. In the beginning, the duo didn’t have time to come together with their German and Russian colleagues, but they also had time to go there. Eventually, they too posed for the photographers as usual with joy.
However, Niskanen and Mäki showed on the podium that they tasted silver. It was clear from all this that it was good for both of them to end the races, which were especially important for both of them.