The documentary Tero Pitkämäki – Tour of Honor will be published on TV2 and Areena on Sunday. In this story, a foretaste of the documentary is seen as Pitkämäki and his close circle recount the most significant moments of the javelin thrower’s career.
Record summer and the love of life
Tero Pitkämäki threw a record of 91.53 in the Kuortane Elite Championships on June 26, 2005. The result improved in a single throw of more than five and a half meters, and it was by no means the only reason for the excellent winter training season.
A week earlier, he had met his future cohabitant and the mother of his children Niina Keloon. The newlywed duo met each other for the first time as a couple in the Kuortane competition, where Kelo was also involved as an athlete.
– That wasn’t the only result in mind when I went to the race site, Pitkämäki grins.
According to Pitkämäki, fresh love played a key role in the record.
– I would say that it was very important that I was just in love. The thoughts weren’t just in the javelin throw and the performance became as relaxed as possible, and there was no over-attempt. That’s one big factor that kind of result exploded that day.
After a record throw, Pitkämäki’s career continued for almost 15 years, but he never threw any further in a competitive situation.
– Sometimes it was joked with Tero that Tero should fall in love again. Well, it’s good for me that it hasn’t happened, Niina Kelo laughs.
– For example, in 2007 I was in a much worse condition, but I was not allowed to leave the spear as cleanly as then. It was a very top success in my career compared to the current performance and level, Pitkämäki estimates.
The giant disappointment at the home race was a lucky coincidence
The 22-year-old Pitkämäki went to the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 as a big pre-favorite. The record set earlier that summer (91.53) was the current top result in world statistics. The young shooter was one of the few Finnish medalists in the home competitions.
– I had done the best throwing exercise of my career a week earlier. I think I throw 89.5 meters in practice. It could have been left undone and saved for the World Cup, if you think about it later, Pitkämäki is thinking now.
If everything had gone like a fairy tale, Pitkämäki would have been crowned world champion already in the downpour of Helsinki. Everything looked good in the qualifiers, where the Finn threw over the qualifiers for the first time.
In the final, the wind blowing from the left messed up the technology, and the spear flew only a good 81 meters. The number one man in world statistics was fourth, which at the time felt like the end of the world.
– It felt like I had betrayed the whole of Finland.
At least the man then knew that the bitter fourth place was a big luck.
– In retrospect, it was terribly good that this kind of failure came early in my career. If I had won World Cup gold and got it all, I don’t think my career would have lasted that long. Motivation would certainly have coagulated. Increasing failure was a tough thing, Pitkämäki analyzed.
The worst anxiety of my career in Osaka
The crown of Pitkämäki’s handsome career is the 2007 World Championship in Osaka. Alho, the worst of his career, also hit the same race.
The shooter felt so bleak that he even considered skipping the final. The reason for this was the poor qualifying, which completely eroded Finnish self-confidence. Pitkämäki barely threw over 80 meters, but still made it to the last race. The breaks before the final were gloomy.
– I was a pretty depressed guy. I sent messages home to Niina and her throwing friends that this is not going to be anything and whether it is even worth going to the finals, Pitkämäki says.
– Even Father Esko called about what to do with that boy, Pitkämäki’s coach Hannu Kangas recalls.
– At the same time, I reeled in some old casting videos and stated that no, those throws are far away, Pitkämäki continues.
The problems actually started even before the World Championships, when a month earlier Pitkämäki’s spear hit a French long jumper Salim Sdirin side in the Golden League competition in Rome. A mentally locked athlete arrived in Osaka.
– I even wanted to qualify for the qualifiers at the Kaleva Games in Lappeenranta, because it wasn’t very balanced. Yes, it was also reflected in the Osaka qualifiers.
Pitkämäki gathered himself for a few days with the support of his loved ones and we know the rest. On the darkening evening of Osaka in September, the new world champion, the Finnish flag, ran on the shoulders of Nagai Stadium.
End close
In the autumn of 2012, Pitkämäki headed for the cam of the motorhome towards Lapland. The javelin thrower wandered the northern landscape, not even thinking about sports for six weeks. Or thought, but mostly about ending his career. The career had long been in decline and the last staple was fourth place in the London Olympics with a score of 82.80.
– It’s the most amateurish performance of my entire career. I was very close to quitting after Pitkämäki times.
My own performance might not have been so annoying if the Olympic gold had not been exported with a throw of less than 85 meters.
– It has definitely been the most difficult place for me in my career. Even more annoying was that I couldn’t throw even one longer throw. For a long time, it was haunted by the London Olympics. That’s one more throw left. I remember the feeling when it was scary to wake up to it. Always the same disappointment again.
The rest of the season after London was good in Pitkämäki. He threw in two Diamond League races and won them both. It didn’t warm my mind as the London Olympics and the unaddressed gold medal roll spun.
– Well, it came a week after that, I threw almost 87 in Stockholm, Pitkämäki smiles laconic.
After much deliberation, Pitkämäki decided to try and continue his career. Fortunately, since then, he has won three more medals and threw the longest throw of his life at a Portuguese camp in the spring of 2013.
The best performance of his career was Fifth place
Pitkämäki won seven medals in 2006–2015. It is more than any other Finnish javelin thrower. That is why it is at least surprising when Pitkämäki says that the best performance of his career was the Fifth place in the 2017 World Cup in London.
– I did best with my value in relation to my own condition in London, Pitkämäki explains.
The shooter had suffered from a severe flu for several weeks just below the World Cup. The condition could not even withstand the warm-up, which Pitkämäki did not do at all.
– It was the only value race I went to according to my own feelings.
Pitkämäki threw 86.94 with his third attempt, which was enough in the fierce competition instead of the fifth. More than a meter and a half more would have been required for the medal.
– It was a sample of professionalism. I got the maximum out of what was available at the time.
Tero Pitkämäki won seven prestigious medals in his professional career that lasted for more than a decade and was the only Finn to win the Diamond League’s overall competition in 2015. He was elected athlete of the year three times.
In a recent documentary, Tero Pitkämäki – Round of Honor, he talks about the surprising backgrounds of moments of success. The documentary will be shown on TV2 and Areena on Sunday 17 April. at 7.15pm. Watch the documentary trailer below.