There was Something Wrong With Finnish Athletes…

…in Vancouver olympics. The former sports superpower had only one silver medal when there were only a few days left and the last days brought four bronzes. The list of underperformers is long. Among Finland’s best were two athletes who returned from their retirement. Before the games the leaders were talking about 12 medals…

I was supposed to give you a link to the excellent blog of Finnish sports photographer Kari Kuukka once he gets to full speed in Vancouver but “frankly, it does get kind of frustrating shooting guys finishing at places ten to fifty.” His Vancouver blog entries are still good but not like the exceptional entries he did from Beijing (then in Finnish). Unfortunately this time his assignments and many practicalities didn’t support his blog as much as two years ago.

It is really interesting to read about the successes and failures of a sports photographer, about the images he wants to take and his comments about the use of his images in the media. On the front page of his homepage there is a slideshow of his photos and links to other resources such as his amazing 360°x180° panoramas. Although he almost always thinks that technical errors in his photos are made by him and not by the equipment, he is certainly not dismissing the possibilities of new technology. He is a firm believer that in sport journalism times are changing – hopefully also in the Finnish sports as well.

The Finnish Ice Hockey Lions Froze Against USA…

…in the semi-final game of Vancouver olympics. During the first minutes of the game Finland’s goaltender made one of the biggest mistakes in the history of our ice hockey and while the whole team was shocked, USA scored five goals in six minutes. It was supposed to be a 1-0 game but it was game over when the match had hardly started.

Ice hockey is probably the most followed event of the winter olympics in Finland and a place in the gold medal game would have been a huge consolation after all the many big disappointments in other sports.

The national team is nicknamed leijonat (lions) because their jersey has the Finnish coat of arms that includes a lion. Quite an obvious choice of an animal for a nordic country, don’t you think?

We’ve got…

…space.

The Sailing Season…

…hasn’t started yet.

Suomenlinna Cannon…

…in the Winter.

The Soviet Republic of Finland?

Finland was never part of Soviet Union but this symbol of cold war gives a different impression.

Two months after the collapse of Berlin Wall, this “gift” from the City of Moscow was unveiled in Helsinki in 1990. The unveiling was led by a right-wing mayor Raimo Ilaskivi who later said that this World Peace statue was “a victory” as originally Soviets wanted to “give” a statue of Lenin.

That was an offer you shouldn’t refuse if you have more than 1000km border with a superpower that is not afraid to use its military power. During the cold war Finnish politicians and media did their best not to upset the big neighbour. Some of this was wise and necessary but some people did go too far.

In 1991 three university students gave a famous tar and feathers treatment to the statue (see photos) as a wake-up call for politicians.

I don’t know about you but this photo makes me feel sick. The “stopping not allowed” traffic sign seems very appropriate.

The statue has also appearead in the blog earlier

• Closer look at the snow covered mother and child
• Silhouette of the statue

Yet Another Steamy Sea…

…photo in this blog.

They Are Throwing Sticks at Her…

…and she puts them forward just by using her feet.

The performance from the Chinese new year celebration was pretty impressive. The air was full of flying things but still none landed on the ground.

Teemu Selänne, All-Time Olympic Scoring Leader…

…in ice hockey. After an assist against Germany the Finnish Flash now owns the all-time scoring record of the world’s number one ice hockey competition with 37 points (20 goals, 17 assists). That’s incredible considering all the great players who are behind him.

Selänne also has more important things than points: a silver medal from Turin 2006 and a bronze from Nagano 1998 in Finland’s de facto national sport. For twelve years he has been playing in the olympics against the best of the best in the same line together with Saku Koivu and Jere Lehtinen forming one of the greatest partnerships in the history of ice hockey.

The photo is from the Sports Museum of Finland and contains Teemu Selänne’s signed Mighty Ducks of Anaheim jersey. Unfortunately there aren’t many chances to see top Finnish hockey players wearing Finnish jerseys in Finland.

For Finland Vancouver Winter Olympics Have Been…

…a huge disappointment. There were pretty realistic expectations that we would already have half a dozen medals but one silver is all we have. On the other hand, if Finland wins men’s ice hockey gold, the whole nation will go crazy and will forget the past disappointments.

The ski jumper in the photo from central Helsinki had to stop in a very short distance after his jump so he actually did a lot better than several of our top athletes.