Mine Sweeper

Top secret mine sweeping technology from Finland.

In reality this is a memorial for the 2000 people who took part in mine sweeping after WW II. 28 of them died and 35 were wounded.

Cities Stink

Cities stink.

City people can learn about countryside in Haltiala that is part of the central park. This is a nice area for bicycle trips as well.

Water

Bringing new life to a park.

Peace and Quiet

A small island seen from Katajanokka.

The Best Place in Helsinki: Suomenlinna

Suomenlinna won the "Best Place in Helsinki" voting.

Suomenlinna is an old sea fortress but also a district of Helsinki where people live.

Other areas of Helsinki that did well in the voting organised by the city planning bureau were Kaivopuisto, Kauppatori, Linnanmäki and Esplanadi. Unfortunately there was no information available about the voting in their website.

Free as a Bird

Barnacle geese taking off.

After the almost one month long Helsinki Olympics Today serie it feels like I’m starting a new blog. From now on there will be less text and photos with more varied themes.

Helsinki Olympics Today: End of the Games

Time to go. Helsinki City hall in 2008 and Scania Vabis B-62 V from 1952.

Helsinki ordered 48 new buses and 30 trams for the olympics. Unfortunately the trams didn’t arrive on time. The bus in the photo is a 1952 model but I don’t know whether it was used during the olympics. It was on display together with an old tram a few weeks ago.

This is the final post in the Helsinki Olympics Today serie. I was only able to scratch the surface as there is so much olympic heritage left in Helsinki. A lot more than I had thought.

It is difficult to imagine that Helsinki would ever organize anything like the 1952 summer olympics. Canadian Broadcasting Company thinks that the games were a rousing success in an article that will make the modest Finns blush several times. I remember reading at the National Sports Museum in Melbourne that Australians put more speed to their 1956 preparations once they saw what a country that was still recovering from WW II was able to organise.

I will still publish a photo a day in this blog and I’m quite sure that I will post photos relating to the olympic theme as well. I hope that one day I’ll have a chance to do a Helsinki winter olympics today serie – photos taken and published during the olympics.

Until then, enjoy my photos from one of the least known European capitals.

See other posts in the Helsinki Olympics Today serie.

Main sources:

• Antero Raevuori: Viimeiset oikeat olympialaiset
• Friman, Härö, Laitinen, Lehto: Olympiakaupunki Helsinki
• The Sports Museum of Finland: Helsinki Olympic Games 1952
• Wikipedia

Helsinki Olympics Today: Other Venues

Messuhalli is today kisahalli.

Messuhalli was built in 1935 and an extra hall was added for the olympics. Then it was the venue for gymnastics, wrestling, boxing, weight-lifting and basketball finals.

It was originally a multipurpose hall where exhibitions, fairs, concerts etc. were held. Today it is a sports arena for regular people and professionals. Sports that can be done inside include basketball, badminton, cheerleading, karate, fencing, pesäpallo (Finnish version of baseball, our national sport), golf, billiards, shot put and boxing.

Pallokenttä is still used for football.

These Helsinki Cup juniors are playing football in the same arena where legendary Ferenc Puskas once played in the 1952 olympics. In 1915 this was the only real football ground in Finland. Earlier a Russian garrison grew vegetables in the area. Today there are four artificial turfs and one real football pitch. The artificial turfs can be used all year around.

Ruskeasuo sports hall.

Ruskeasuo was among the places where horse riding events were organized. There I saw many horses but also things that wouldn’t have been seen in 1952: floorball and cricket players. Floorball is a bit like ice or field hockey played indoors with a plastic ball and sticks. It is very popular especially in Finland and Sweden. Cricket is played mostly by foreigners.

Items that were on my shooting list but didn’t make it to the serie were

• Horse riding venue in Laakso
• Kumpula outdoor swimming pool
• Harmaja lighthouse along the sailing route
• Westend tennis hall
• Malmi shooting range (there isn’t much left)
• East block olympic village in Otaniemi
• Women’s olympic village (sairaanhoito-opisto in Meilahti)
• Olympic village for the Finns in Santahamina garrison
• Companies that have olympia in their name or are related to the 1952 olympics in some other way (like Nokia).
• Parliament house (as several 1952 Finnish gold medalists became members of parliament)
• Something related to Emil Zatopek, Armi Kuusela and Erik von Frenckell in Helsinki of today
• What people are doing today in the olympic venues
• People who saw the games in 1952

Since in the future I have to publish a photo a day from Helsinki, it is quite likely that many of these will appear in this blog later.

Additionally modern pentathlon competition was held in the city of Hämeenlinna about 100km from Helsinki. Olympic football was also played in several Finnish cities.

See other posts in the Helsinki Olympics Today serie.

Helsinki Olympics Today: Tennispalatsi

Olympic basketball was played in tennispalatsi.

Tennispalatsi – tennis palace – is today a recreational center right in the city center. It has a movie theather, museums, shops and restaurants. It was originally built as a temporary building for car sales in late 1930’s. For a long time it was one of the most important places for tennis players in Helsinki. In the late 1980’s there were plans to build a bus terminal at the same location. It is not the pretties but certainly one of the most distinct buildings in the area, so I’m glad that the plans were not implemented.

Helsinki Olympics Today: My Olympic Stadium Memories

Euro2008 football qualifier between Finland and Poland is about to start. Taken with a cell phone camera. The roof is the latest addition to the Olympic Stadium.

Here are some of my memories from the events that I have watched at the stadium.

Finland’s Worst Sports Moment Ever

In 1997 Finland needed a win against Hungary in order to have a very good chance to qualify for the first time in history to football’s World Cup. I’ve never been outdoors in such a terrible rain but nobody cared as Finland had a 1-0 lead when 90 minutes was played. Hungary gave a poor corner and FIVE Finnish players made unsuccessful tries to clear the ball. Hungarians really didn’t do anything but still the ball found its way into our goal. One of the best moments of Finnish football turned into anger and disappointment in the ugliest possible way. Readers of Helsingin Sanomat newspaper voted that pinball goal as the worst sports moment of all times.

HJK Plays Excellent Champions League Football

I went to see HJK Helsinki’s champions league qualifier against a French side Metz in 1998. Normally a Finnish club wouldn’t have a chance against a good team from a country that has just won the World Cup. But HJK did the impossible and qualified. When the champions league hymn was played before a match against a Portugese side Benfica, I couldn’t believe I was in Helsinki. It was totally unreal when HJK won the game! I’m still angry at myself for not going to see the 0-0 match against Kaiserslautern. HJK had the chances to win that one as well. Unfortunately in the last home match against PSV Eindhoven I witnessed a hat trick by a promising young striker called Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Athletics

One of the craziest things I’ve ever seen was when Haile Gebreselassie made a new world record in 5000 meters. A normal young fit person could have followed him only for a few meters (I’m not kidding!) and he ran for 5 kilometers! It looks a lot slower on tv.

There was also once a giant guy who from a distance seemed to be too clumsy for his sport. We made jokes about that with my friend. When it was his turn, a name appeared on the screen – Sergei Bubka. The pole vaulter is one of the best athletes of all times.

Unfortunately in many events music seems to be more important than the actual event. The louder the better. Once in an athletics competition people from the audience had to move loudspeakers because it was impossible to sit on their seats because of the noise. I sat several rows from them and my ears were also hurting.

See other posts in the Helsinki Olympics Today serie.