ROME
Javelin legend, coach Tero Pitkämäki has experienced a wide range of emotions at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, from trauma to the greatest possible joy.
On July 13, 2007, the Nordic Champion javelin that slipped from the hand of the Finn sank the French long jumper Salim Sdirin to the liver and kidney so that the man’s life was saved in the hospital.
Just under 17 years later, Pitkämäki was delighted to be coached in the coach’s stand at the European Championships Oliver Helander’s From European Championship bronze, through Finland, quite eighth.
At worst, the job that looked like an eternity project reached at least the halfway mark, and Helander’s prestigious debut, i.e. EC-Berlin 2018, is still Finland’s only EC project without a medal.
Only a matter of time
Pitkämäki achieved EC bronzes in two pieces, but his first competition medal was the EC silver in Gothenburg 2006. Ilmajokinen had then already been the sovereign pre-favourite for the World Championship final and the first competition medal out of seven was only a matter of time.
For Oliver Helander, it certainly wasn’t.
When he failed in the first two rounds on Wednesday, the man’s history did not make the mind boil water.
A little uneven
To put it nicely, the third, or often decisive, performances of the Finn-Swede, who recorded a slightly uneven value competition record, in the qualifiers or finals of value competitions had produced such results: 76.64, overstepped, overstepped, overstepped.
Now the third attempt, 85.75, was measured as worthy of a bronze medal, and there is a reason for everything.
Helander’s story has been told many times. The Karelian handball legend Jan Helander’s the good-handed and game-minded boy threw the javelin as a side sport in the 2010s, but dreamed of becoming a professional handball player in the money-rich top leagues of Central Europe, where the brother Benjamin cleared the way.
When the mood changed in 2016, and handball remained at the expense of the javelin, both the athletics and handball communities shuddered: one with joy, the other with surprise.
In 2018, Helander, 21, recorded a result of 88.02 in the 22nd competition of his career. For comparison, Finnish world champions Aki Swarm girl needed 88 and Pitkämäki 74 races with an 800-gram tube in hand for such a result.
A certain basic talent can be read from that.
Tough years
So the debut of the prestigious competition was waiting at EC-Berlin 2018, and the continuation followed at WC-Doha 2019. The cheering stand was waiting both times already after the qualification. When Helander on October 24, 2019 threw 74.62 in the famous Wuhan of China on October 24, 2019, the purgatory of the first Swedish-speaking medalist in the Finnish men’s javelin began.
The shoulder had plagued the entire javelin career, and both competing and training were one compromise after another. A top surgeon Harry Helio cleaned his throwing arm shoulder at the beginning of 2020, and Helander did not return to the Games until June 8, 2021 in Turku PNG.
At this point, the talk about valuable competition medals seemed like a farce.
Helander, who suffered from severe pain at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, had to miss the qualification, but when Elastic Kinnusen like legend correct encouragingly urged, he dragged himself to the spot.
Pitkämäki had enough
At this point, Pitkämäki, who had followed the Olympic Games in his home country of Finland and started his coaching career, had had enough. He gave Ilta-Sanom gave an extraordinary open man interview about the death spiral of Helander’s career and frankly offered his own coaching expertise in place of the boy from his own village who had collaborated with Helander for a long time.
Otherwise, Waterloo would be waiting at the end of the road.
Helander now has a prize medal hanging around his neck because, and only because, he read that story and acted according to the instructions of the legend he admired.
Came from Pitkämäki Tapio The harvest, Jorma Kinnusen and Aki Parviainen is followed by the fourth Finnish man who has both thrown and coached a prestigious medal.
Good prophecy
In the Ilta-Sanomie article in question, one particular point shows the philosophy with which Pitkämäki approached the job in the summer of 2021:
“When there are always significant health problems, it doesn’t make sense to set goals for the next season all the time, because they won’t come true with injuries anyway. Oliver should perhaps already be thinking about the summer 2024 EC and Olympic Games.”
That doesn’t seem like a bad prophecy right now.
Helander went with all his soul to his coach’s sled. The shoulder, which remained a problem until the end of his career, has been tolerated with plenty of low-power throwing. The already good physical values have been raised to the limit, and Helander has also listened carefully to his coach’s instructions regarding competitive activities.
In Rome, we saw the longest throws of the championship series, first in qualifying and then in the final competition in the worst possible place.
The spark was found at a young age
Many fans of athletics have thought that Helander lacks spark and character. I haven’t thought like this myself since a young man’s throw of around 87.50 meters was not measured in PNG on June 5, 2018 due to an exceptionally accurate throw line judge.
I made the mistake of asking for an interview on the subject while Helander was running furiously from Kisapuisto towards his car.
At the time, the refusal came in sharp and clear Swedish, but since then, the first native, who has developed almost as a native, has done the athlete’s personality a lot of good in a very Finnish-speaking sports family.
Helander’s rather meager way of expressing himself in the media is so unique that with a medal or two, he has the makings of a cult athlete.