Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here. You can find the entire program of the games here.
Finland, which has participated in the Olympics since 1908, is going to be without a medal for the first time. The team’s official goal in Paris was two medals, but practically all the medal seams have gone a couple of days before the end of the games.
The leader of the Finnish Olympic team Leena Paavolainen there’s no denying that the games would have gone poorly for the Finns as a whole.
– We were assigned a total of ten medals and 20 points from the Olympics for this Olympics. We now have eight medals and 19 points. It is clear that the goal of two medals set here in Paris will not be realized. Of course, that result is disappointing, Paavolainen tells Urheilu.
Nine of the Finnish points mentioned by Paavolainen (places 5–8) have come from Paris.
5th place:
Pihla Kaivo-oja, boxing (shared place)
Silja Kosonen, shot put
Heili Sirviö, skateboarding
6th place:
Krista Tervo, shot put
Wilma Murto, pole vault (shared place)
7th place:
Sinem Kurtbay/Akseli Keskinen, sailing Nacra 17
8th place:
Lassi Etelätalo, javelin throw
Arvi Savolainen, wrestling
Henri Ruoste/Joanna Robinson/Emma Kanerva, dressage team competition
The now-ending Olympics began in 2021 after the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which also included the Beijing Winter Games. From Beijing 2022, Finland won a total of eight medals in cross-country skiing and ice hockey.
Paavolainen does not want to guess the reasons for Finland’s lack of medals in Paris, but says that the place for reflection is only after the Games in the fall. The Olympic Committee’s top sports unit makes a careful analysis together with the sports federations.
– Let’s analyze and evaluate this entire Olympiad that is ending. Let’s draw conclusions towards the Los Angeles (2028) Games. We have to look at the entirety of the athletes’ training, our expert activities, coaching and also the issues related to the elite sports system, including our elite sports support system. These are carefully dissected to see what the causes are and what the measures are, says Paavolainen and adds:
– There will certainly be some changes this fall, when we have made our conclusions.
Minister of Physical Education, Sports and Youth Sandra Bergqvist (r.) stated in an interview with Urheilu that the level at the Summer Olympics is simply really tough.
Still, Finland’s result is poor when compared to other Nordic countries and compared to the size of the team of 56 athletes. Sweden has already won ten medals (3+4+3) in Paris by Friday. Denmark has four medals (1+2+1) and Norway has two. The medal account of Iceland, which has a team of five athletes, has not been opened.
Minister Bergqvist says that the state of Finnish elite sports will be discussed after the games in the Ministry of Education and Culture and together with various parties. He would also like to strengthen cooperation with other Nordic countries.
– Now we should learn from what other Nordic countries have done and why they are able to perform so well. Now would be a good time for us to cooperate better with the other Nordic countries and think together about how we can develop our own activities and also create the best possible environment for our top athletes, says Bergqvist.
Are there answers to the question of eternity?
Top sports are supported with public funds. For example, the Ministry of Education and Culture awarded coaching and training grants to 169 athletes in summer sports in January. 20 athletes received the largest grant of 20,000 euros.
In the future, then, should more money be allocated to those sports that have the best chances for Olympic success?
– I think we should focus on what we already do well. If we have and produce new talented top athletes, we will support their opportunities to advance in their sports career, says Bergqvist.
Director of the Ministry of Education and Culture’s area of responsibility for physical activity Tiina Kivisaari states that the financing of elite sports is an eternal issue that will continue to be discussed.
– An interesting question is how to start prioritizing and what are the criteria for prioritization. Yes, we need to think about this because our age groups are getting smaller and we are having fewer and fewer children. We also have challenges in that more and more young people want to choose a team sport instead of an individual sport, Kivisaari reminds us of future challenges.
So far, Finland’s best ranking in Paris is fifth. They achieved that in skating Heili Sirviöin the moukari throw Silja Kosonen and in boxing Pihla Kaivo-oja. The positive thing is that the whole trio represents the youngest guard of the Finnish Olympic team. Sirviö is only 13 years old, while Kosonen and Kaivo-oja are 21 years old.
Kivisaari does not believe that after four years in Los Angeles Finland’s result will be as bad as in Paris.
– We have a huge amount of researched information and know-how in Finland. When we put our wise heads together, I believe that we will already have a clearly better situation in Los Angeles in terms of medals as well.