According to Itani, Finnish athletics is experiencing an upswing, which has been visible for a long time.
Chairman of the Finnish Sports Association, ex-decathlete Sami Itani is relieved by the success of Finnish athletes at the European Athletics Championships in Munich.
The medal balance was two gold, one silver and one bronze. Up to six years had passed since Finland’s previous prestigious medal in adult athletics outdoor tracks.
– The atmosphere is very positive. I am extremely happy and proud of our team, including those who did not get medals. Finland had a big team that achieved a lot of success, Itani said on Monday in an interview with aam.
The Finns’ success did not come as a surprise to Itani. According to him, Finnish athletics is experiencing an upswing, which has been visible for a long time. Itani reminds that, for example, there has been exceptional success in the youth competitions in recent years, and Finnish records have been broken in the adult series.
– Now it is reasonable to assume that the head has been opened, so to speak, and from this we will start to be even more successful year by year.
Itani would have divorced if success had not come
In Itani’s opinion, the biggest thanks for the success goes to “the field”, i.e. to the talented athletes and coaches. According to Itani, the Sports Confederation has also played a small role, which has finally solved its financial problems.
– This has made it possible for us to be able to invest euros in top sports and especially in enabling coaching there.
Itani threatened to quit if Finland did not succeed or return to the medal base at the European Championships in Munich. Now the resignation speeches can be forgotten.
Itani says that he wanted to emphasize with his resignation threat that sports managers would also start to bear more personal responsibility for results.
– Of course I’m relieved now, but I never doubted that there would be medals.