The skiing star says that she still uses mood medication when necessary and that she goes to therapy. The feedback on the bold revelations of the new book was not surprising.
17:18•Updated 17:34
When a biography of a famous person is published, it is natural that the reception it receives is interesting and exciting.
12-time ski medalist Krista Pärmäkoski33, is no exception. His biography Open (written by Urheilu’s editor Laura Arffmancust. Gummerus) appeared on Wednesday.
Pärmäkoski’s surprising revelations about his psychological problems and, less surprisingly, about the problems of the working atmosphere of the women’s cross country team, came to the fore in the public eye.
– Almost exactly the themes that I expected came up.
A big surprise for many
Especially at times even brutal descriptions of psychological challenges came as a big surprise to many readers. Especially because Pärmäkoski, which is considered to be mentally rocky, tells about them and also because a top athlete living his active career opens up about them in general.
– If someone gets help with their own problems thanks to my openness, I have succeeded. The book was also a learning process for me. At least I learned that opening up about dark and difficult things can make you feel better.
At the moment, the condition of Pärmäkoski is significantly better than from spring 2023 to last spring. The treatment has not ended.
“Regularly in therapy”
– I regularly go to therapy and use mood medication if the doctor deems it necessary, Pärmäkoski said on Thursday at the launch of his book in Helsinki.
It was a real quick visit, as the athlete arrived on Wednesday evening from a high-placed camp in Spain and will travel to another similar one in Italy on Friday morning.
Pärmäkoski has also been emotionally burdened by the divorce process. Future ex-husband Tommy Pärmäkoski the share in his coaching pattern was also significant.
– Tommi is no longer involved in my coaching.
The national team’s professionals are now responsible for the physical training, and the top sports institute Kihu is responsible for controlling the long-term night heart rate monitoring.
Mid-career or after?
There are often differences in athlete biographies depending on whether they were written during or after their career.
Pärmäkoski said that the continuation of the career did not affect the contents. For example, racing sister Therese Johaugin the doping case is discussed very briefly in the book, but according to the skier, it is only because he did not find the matter relevant.
When Aino-Kaisa Saarinen the biography Tahto was published in 2016, the national ski team held a crisis meeting in Muonio because of the book’s content that dealt with the national team atmosphere in a funny way. Pärmäkoski also tells interesting things about this dimension in his book.
– I don’t think there is a need for any kind of crisis meetings. I think it is clear from the book that it has been a matter of arguing about things and not about people. Now the national team spirit is good.
The cold treatment hurt
Pärmäkoski admits one thing to his skier: the cold treatment he received from the rest of the national team after the skier decided to stay out of the A national team for the 2019–2020 training season.
– It felt bad. Since then, many others have done the same without drama. We’ve all grown up, apparently.
As a basis for his own book process, Pärmäkoski had read both by Marit Björgen that the Finnish versions of Johaug’s biographies. Next, this sector will grab your hands The same Jauhojärvi a biography to be published in November.
Updated at 17:34. Changed as the main photo instead of the stock photo, a photo from Thursday’s Open biography book launch event.