Reporter Petra Manner compared Oliver Helander to Kimi Räikkösen. “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing”, would also fit the mouth of the EC bronze medalist in the javelin throw.
The recent EC bronze medalist in the javelin throw Oliver Helander is a very brief person in public. The javelin thrower’s interview answers don’t really burst with emotion and energy.
The same line continued on Wednesday, when Helander achieved his long-term dream. He became a prestigious medalist in athletics.
– I bet I’ll go straight to sleep, that’s how tired a man is, said Helander with a bronze medal around his neck after the award ceremony.
Helander achieved EC bronze with a score of 85.75 in the evening in Rome. You could imagine that there was quite a whirlwind inside the 27-year-old Finnish star – Helander’s potential has been known for a long time, but the medals have eluded the injury-prone athlete.
Bronze came to the top of everything in a dramatic way. After two throwing rounds, Helander was in danger of being outside the top eight and falling out of the further rounds.
The Finnish star still didn’t give up, even though he did a great performance in a tough place.
– We train for these. It’s nice to succeed at the right moment, Helander summed up.
Helander doesn’t talk for nothing during the competition either. Editor of Petra Manner drew attention to the Finn’s actions during Wednesday’s javelin final.
Normally, athletes talk with their coaches after their performances. The coaches video the athletes’ performances and give feedback on them. For example, Suomen seivastähti Wilma Murto and coach Jarno Koivunen discuss after each jump.
Helander visited his coach during the javelin final Tero Pitkämäki with stories exactly once.
This “discussion” took place after Helander had secured a place in the further rounds with his third throw.
– Huhhuh, Helander said to Pitkämäki.
That was the conversation. It’s no wonder that Petra Manner compared Helander on live TV to an F1 legend Kimi Räikkönenwho is remembered, among other things, for his iconic comments on team radio.
“Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing”.
A racing partner gave advice
The fully sheathed Finnish javelina was not present in the evening in Rome. Helander held a dialogue with its international competitors.
Helander revealed Nina Vanhatalon in a radio interview that the Czech Republic Jakub Vadlejch had given him some important advice in the finale.
– Vadlejch told me to think about throwing in Turku, Helander said.
Vadlejch, who won the European championship, knew that Helander is at his best at the Paavo Nurmi stadium in Turku.
If you look at the longest throws in Helander’s career, no less than four out of eight were born in Turku.
The mental image training worked, because now the Finn raced the seventh longest arc of his career in Rome.
It brought the tired man an EC bronze.
Instead of the raucous medal party, Helander went to bed to continue mental exercises. Perhaps he dreams of the Paris Olympics, which will be contested in Turku.
Corrected 6/13/2024 at 7:31 AM: Corrected the information in the caption that Helander received a bronze medal, not a gold medal, as previously stated in the caption.