My sincere apologies on behalf of some of the Finnish sportsmen/women in the Olympics! Most of them have performed extremely low in Vancouver until now - with few exceptions (that I will mention later on).
The Finnish Olympic Committee stated as an official target to win 12 (yes, twelve) medals from the games. Quite a lot for a country of 5.3 million people, no matter how good history we have with winter sports. While we are facing the half way post of the games, we have a glorious one (1) silver medal from a (sorry for my bad French) fanf***ingtastic performance by Peetu Piiroinen in half-pipe with his snowboard (if some technical thing was wrong with this pipe-thing, sorry for that but how could I know...).
Also in yesterday's ski jumping, the gold medal went to the best man. Full stop.
We have two fantastic athletes who have made a come-back and have tried to get the glory in the Olympics. Unfortunately the story does not always follow the Finnish wish-list but what can I say. I truly feel sorry for Janne "The Eagle" Ahonen, but also I take my hat off for Hannu Manninen's come-back after a break.
I bet you won't see this with some other athletes and their career plans: Manninen came to Vancouver some days later than others due to his studies. Shit happens, but if the "others" win him, he can go back to the licenced flight pilot work ;o)
Let's come back to Janne Ahonen;
He retired from ski jumping, came back after a year and was hoping to get his first personal Olympic medal. He already has got one from the team thing, but no individual medal despite of multiple wins in World Championships and especially multiple wins from the traditional Ski Jumping Week around the New Year.
To get to the point I started with, I am sooo ashamed how the Finnish cross country ski team performs - and I gotta say I am not satisfied at all with what I saw yesterday!!!
Yep, I fully understand and support that for example in Ahonen's case he should NOT jump 2nd round after hurting his knee in the first competition jump. After 1 year of retirement (while he was competing in the drag racing...), Ahonen has been for now the best Finnish ski jumper in the games! Since I am an optimistic with a positive approach, I can only wish for a better performance in the ski jump team competition. However, I will not hold my breath :o(
MORE SHAME;
Out of the four (4) skiers in the men's cross country ski competition yesterday, 3(!) out of 4 Finnish skiers decided they are not going to finish the race so the gave up! I better not to say what I feel. Today's headlines say one guy is now on medication, but IF YOU ARE SICK, YOU WON'T START AND GIVE THE PLACE TO SOMEONE ELSE WHO IS FINE!
WHERE THE PERKELE IS THE FINNISH SISU WITH THESE GUYS???
If you are chosen to represent Finns in the games, you better not throw in the towel in the first round!
I'm not going into the details but from a perspective of a Finnish sportsman with a twinkle in an eye, I cheer for Mr Giorgio Di Centa who had the most ridiculous hat in the race (couldn't find a pic)!
If we are lucky, I guess we Finns will get 3 medals in the whole of the Vancourver - Jos hyvin käy, saamme 3 mitalia! Joo, taisin sanoa tuon itse mutta jos ei tuota saada lätkän/joukkuehyppäilyn jälkeen niin mistä sitten? Curling tiimi voi tietty aina yllättää...
Hyvä Leijonat - Go Finnish Lions, the hockey team!
TEEMU, TEEMU, TEEMU... Tuo tuli vanhasta muistista mutta Espoolaisena voin iloita sekä esim. Teemun, Jeren että Niken menosta, että ihan jokaisesta tilanteesta jossa voitamme "vihollisen", parhaamme yrittäen ja sitä prkln sisua näyttäen!
Tomorrow it is time for Finland vs Sweden in men's ice hockey, a true Finnkampen and I bet we will see some sisu on the ice. I have made a bet for the Finnish performance; If we win I will get some Marabou chocolate - and if we happen to loose, I will send some Fazer Blue chocolate to Mange in Sweden...
If you don't have the sisu, you better stay home and focus on the other side of the winter sports. Here is an example of a bit different competition which I truly enjoyed :o)
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