France asked Finland for two special explosives dogs as official assistance for the Paris Olympics. Among them, Nalli was already in the headlines last winter when she was rescuing a teenage boy who caught a cold.
Paris Olympics on channels 26.7.–11.8. Go to the competition website here.
PARIS.
The security measures at the Paris Olympics are considered very exceptional. No fewer than 45,000 police and 18,000 soldiers protect the games and the city.
There are two police dogs and two dog handlers from Finland. Dogs named Nalli and Quattro and the chief constable Mika Lekkerimäki and Senior Constable Heikki Nyman.
The four arrived in Paris already on July 11 through a long formula, traveling by car for three days. Since then, they have represented Finland in the colors of the police and done the work that the local police and race organizers have wanted.
Nalli and Quattro are special explosives dogs, i.e. they are trained to search for explosives in different locations. Urheilu was able to meet the four when they were taking a break. Nalli immediately greeted ‘s reporter to the camera happily.
Certain routines have already formed in the days.
– Information about the destination and where to go will come from the locals. The local police will come from the accommodation to pick up the car convoy. Let’s go to the destination in a convoy. When the day ends in the evening, we come back to the destination. The last six days have been busy, Lekkerimäki describes.
Nalli is a seven-year-old labrador retriever. Quattro is a seven-year-old Belgian Shepherd Malinois. Nalli normally works at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. Quattro’s normal workplace is the Eastern Finland Police Department in Mikkeli.
– Destinations vary a lot here. That’s the biggest difference. The second is temperature. It can get really high during the day. You have to work with it and think about coping. However, there are many dogs here from all over the world, so we can handle things really well, says Lekkerimäki.
Before the Olympics, it has been warm in Paris, well over 30 degrees at best.
Nalli-koira is already known to the public. Last winter there was a lot on display case, where Nalli found a chilled and unconscious teenage boy in a snowdrift. At that time, Nallia was called a hero dog in numerous media. Now Lekkerimäki remembers the incident as a nice success.
Lekkerimäki sees the large number of police at the Olympics as understandable, since it is the biggest event of the year in the world.
– Against that background, threats exist. Let’s try to get the games through safely, Lekkerimäki describes.
for the security measures of the Paris Olympics more than 2,000 foreign police officers from more than 40 countries participate. More than 360 police officers from France’s neighboring country Spain are helping. The next largest number is from Great Britain, i.e. 245 police officers. 161 police officers have come from Germany to the games.
France specifically wanted two explosive dogs from Finland as official assistance for the Olympics.
Finns have worked with Austrian colleagues. Lekkerimäki praises the cooperation.
– This is a great city anyway. This has been a wonderful experience, says Lekkerimäki.