Satu Mäkelä-Nummela voted Sports Personality of the Year

Markku Kanerva and Under-21 squad rewarded for place in European Championships finals

Markku Kanerva

print this

There were few real surprises in store at last night's gala to award the trophy for Sports Personality of the Year and other accolades, as chosen by Finland's sports journalists.
      The big prize went to Olympic gold medallist trap shooter Satu Mäkelä-Nummela, who collected 3,798 votes and a massive 297 of those voting put her in the top spot.
     
As the only person to bring home a gold medal from the Beijing Olympics, Mäkelä-Nummela was able to overcome the relative handicap of competing in a low-profile sport, and she became only the second person from her particular discipline ever to win the title.
      She was followed home by the pairing of Sanna Sten and Minna Nieminen, who had won silver in the women's lightweight double sculls in Beijing. They received 2,551 votes, but only 11 of the journalists put them in first place.
      Sten and Nieminen just held off the challenge of javelin thrower Tero Pitkämäki, a bronze medallist in Beijing, who collected 2,518 votes.
      Others in the top ten included female cross country skier Virpi Kuitunen, orienteering world championships multiple gold medallist Minna Kauppi, ski-jumper (now retired)Janne Ahonen, marksman and Olympic bronze medallist Henri Häkkinen (who also took the "Breakthrough of the Year" award), swimmer Hanna-Maria Seppälä (also voted Sporting Role Model of the Year), paralympics sprinter Leo-Pekka Tähti, and Stanley Cup- winning member of the Detroit Red Wings Valtteri Filppula.
     
If Mäkelä-Nummela's name was only to be expected, so was that of the coach of the year and indeed the team of the year.
      Markku Kanerva got the former award for his handling of the Finnish Under-21 footballers, who made it to this summer's finals of the UEFA European Championships in Sweden. The squad collected the Team of the Year prize.
     
This year the women did rather well: six of the top names given above were women, including the duo of Sten and Nieminen, and indeed Tero Pitkämäki (the winner in 2007) was the only male representative in the top five.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  A waitress with a VERY sharp eye and a steady hand (23.12.2008)
  Javelin world champion Tero Pitkämäki takes Sports Personality of the Year trophy (18.12.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat