Medals haul represents lowest point in Finnish Olympic history

Tapani Ilkka: Finland under-performed across the board

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For Finland, the Summer Olympics in Athens, which ended last night, marked the country's weakest Olympic performance ever. Finland gained only two silver medals and just four placings in the first eight.
      Since 1908, Finland has won at least one gold medal in the Summer Olympics every single time. This tradition came to an abrupt end in Athens.
      "We definitely under-performed at these games", says Tapani Ilkka, the President of the Finnish Olympic Committee.
     
Finland's two silver medals were delivered by the skeet shooter Marko Kemppainen and the Greco-Roman wrestler Marko Yli-Hannuksela. The Olympic Committee had hoped for three to four medals.
      "Our team had ten or so athletes who we realistically considered medal hopefuls. Had our success rate reached even 40 percent that would have been great", Ilkka comments.
      Many of the Finnish sportsmen and sportswomen who were sent to Greece trailed in way behind their season's best results, on the basis of which they had been selected for Athens.
     
Apart from the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, this year's Finnish team with 53 athletes was the second smallest of all time. From the 1932 Games in Los Angeles, Finland's 43-strong team brought home five gold, two silver, and 12 bronze medals.
      The success rate was astounding: 25 medals divided by 43 athletes equals 0.58 medals per athlete. Calculated the same way, Finland's success rate in Athens 2004 was a measly 0.036 medals per athlete.
      Four years ago in Sydney, 71 athletes competed in the Finnish colours, bringing home four medals: two golden ones from shot put and sailing, plus a silver medal from shooting and a bronze medal from wrestling.
     
Both Ilkka and Kari Niemi-Nikkola, the Sports Director of the Finnish Olympic Committee, agree that international success in sports calls for an attitude change.
      More should be invested in coaching the younger generation, the 18 to 23-year-olds, and the top-ranking athletes should be picked out from the amateur sports club activities, which mainly operate on a voluntary basis.
      A more professional grasp and better resources are required at every level. "Now we have to choose whether we want to succeed in sports, or if it is enough that we merely participate", Niemi-Nikkola concludes.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Silver medal for Marko Yli-Hannuksela in Greco-Roman wrestling (27.8.2004)
  Relief all round: Marko Kemppainen takes first Finnish medal in Athens (23.8.2004)
  Day Five continues the Finnish disappointments in Athens (19.8.2004)
  Sari Multala rises to fourth place; four Finns join spectators (18.8.2004)
  Finland has quiet first weekend in Athens (16.8.2004)

Links:
  Athens 2004 Official Site

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