Kojonkoski was offered top job on Norwegian Olympic Committee
Collaboration goes on in consulting and coaching support
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By Ari Pusa in Oslo
Mika Kojonkoski was being tempted with another high-flying position inside Norwegian sport if he had not chosen to remain as head coach to the nation's ski-jumping squad.
The Norwegian Olympic Committee offered him an executive role that would in practice have left him in charge of the overall organisation of the country's entire Olympic sports package.
Kojonkoski nevertheless decided to decline the invitation, since it would have involved a permanent move to Norway. This would have been awkward to arrange, what with the children and his wife's work.
"It would have been a dream job, but in situations like this you have to think of the family, too", says Kojonkoski.
The collaboration with the NOC did not completely evaporate, however, as Kojonkoski still acts as a consultant to the Committee and provides coaching support.
Mika Kojonkoski's name was also very prominent on the short-lists three years ago when the Finnish Olympic Committee were looking for a person to head their coaching squad. At that time, however, he was busy with other projects.
Kojonkoski, 42, spent 8 years as a member of the Kuopio City Council, but did not stand for re-election at the last election. He has also been courted as a candidate for Parliament and the European Parliament.
The wooing overtures have not yet been refined into a candidacy, but that day will probably come.
"Politics is social interaction, just like coaching. I have a powerful urge to improve things."
In addition, the coach has long been hankering after a chance to complete a cross-disciplinary doctoral dissertation. The thesis deals with the activitiy of the brain and the central nervous system during sporting performance.
Kojonkoski admits flat-out that in recent years - spent coaching the Austrians, the Finns, and the Norwegians - his dissertation has not moved forward one inch.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 5.12.2005
More on this subject:
 Ski-jumping coach does a lot of flying
WHO? Mika Kojonkoski
Helsingin Sanomat
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