According to Antti Pihlakoski, the current board member of the International Athletics Federation, Ilkka Kanerva seemed to have 148 years of experience, even though he died on Thursday at the age of 74.
Kanerva served as vice chairman of the Finnish Olympic Committee from 1993 to 2008. Kanerva was the leader of the Finnish Olympic team in Atlanta in 1996.
The most beloved of the sports for Kanerva was athletics. Kanerva was a member of the Board of the International Athletics Federation for eight years from 2003 to 2011.
The departure of Kanerva, known as “Ikena,” was shocking Antti PihlakoskiFormer Chairman of the Sports Federation and current member of the Board of the International Athletics Federation.
– The news of the morning was a shock to me. I’m sorry for the good friend’s departure, Pihlakoski tells Sport on the phone.
– First of all, I would like to express my condolences to those close to Ilkka. I consider Ilka’s departure a big loss.
Pihlakoski warmly remembers his late friend. They worked together for 14 years.
– He was a great sports director, a great man and a funny man. It was always fun to work with Ike. For him, sports were everything in everything.
“The organization people were like children or relatives to him”
According to Pihlakoski, Finland has succeeded in athletics classrooms largely because Kanerva was experienced as a politician and an organizer.
Pihlakoski says that Kanerva was considering starting the vice-presidential competition of the International Athletics Federation.
– After a long negotiation, he did not go to the race. They arrived Sergei Bubka and Sebastian Coe.
Pihlakoski recalls that when Kanerva was on the board of the IAAF, he was the then chairman Lamine Diack brought problems. Diack was later sentenced to four years in prison and fined € 500,000 for corruption.
– It was a difficult time. As power grew, Lamine Diack and his family turned out to be quite a mafia. Ike teamed up with Diack. Maybe that’s why Ike didn’t get elected in 2011 for a follow-up season.
Pihlakoski remembers Kanerva as an excellent NGO employee.
– He was quite a well-liked and approachable person. The people in the organization were like children or relatives to him. Everyone spoke to him as Ikena. Ike was a down-to-earth man.
– It felt like he had 148 years of experience, even though he died at the age of 74, Pihlakoski recalls.