Finland and the Olympics

The London 2012 Olympic games have now come to a close. These were the most successful Olympics for Britain ever, but how were they for Finland?

Time to indulge in some stats and some gratuitous speculation.

Weird Finnish Sports

Last Saturday, the World Wife-Carrying Championship took place in Sonkajärvi, Finland.

A Finn won it. Again.

Finns do excel at bizarre summer sports, it has to be said.

The Moose Test

It’s been very cold and very snowy in Helsinki this week. Good thing that I am a fully-fledged winter rally driver then!

Matti Nykänen

Last Monday, former ski-jumping champion Matti Nykänen started a 16 month prison sentence in Kupio for aggravated assault on his on-off wife Mervi Tapola in 2009.

This is just the most recent twist in the “car crash” life Nykänen has led since retiring from top-flight (fortuitous pun) ski-jumping in the late 1980s.

My Ice Hockey World Cup Final

Last night, Finland triumphed against arch rivals Sweden in Bratislava (Slovakia) to win the ice-hockey world cup for only the second time.

As a finnophile, I would have dearly loved to have watched the game live in some sports-bar in Finland or with Finnish expats in a pub in the UK.

But I couldn't.

Sami Hyypiä and Me

This week, Sami Hyypiä, the legendary former Liverpool FC and Finland defender announced his retirement from professional football – at the “advanced” age of 37.

I have a bit of a connection with Sami, you know...