Winter Sports Festival – Finnish Ski Association 1908–2008

The Finnish Ski Association (SHL) was born in 1908 when the ‘Association to Advance Finnish Ski Sports’ was established. The association started to develop into the Finnish Ski Association, one of the major sports organisations in Finland and a strong player in the international field. The anniversary exhibition portrayed a period of a hundred years through athletes, Olympics and FIS World Championships. It covered many colourful competitions and brought back many unforgettable memories. 

Finns entered the international ski arenas in the 1920s. The first international success was Tapani Niku’s Olympic bronze medal in Chamonix 1924, and the first international victories were achieved by Matti Raivio in Lahti 1926 (for the 30 km and 50 km cross-country events). Veli Saarinen was the first Finnish Olympic gold medallist in skiing in Lake Placid (1932). In the 1930s, many Finnish skiers stepped on the podium in the Olympics and World Championships, Kalle Jalkanen being the most famous of them. Finns were particularly successful in relay races. 

The golden era of Finnish cross-country skiing began after the war in the 1950s. In that decade, Veikko Hakulinen and Kalevi Hämäläinen were the most successful Finnish skiers. Since the Oslo Winter Olympics in 1952, women have also participated in Olympic cross-country skiing events and FIS World Championships. Lydia Wideman, Siiri Rantanen, Mirja Hietamies and Sirkka Polkunen led the Finnish women’s team to success. In the 1960s, Eero Mäntyranta was unbeatable. Legendary Juha Mieto was the hero of the 1970s. He lost the gold by a hundredth of a second in the 15 km race in Lake Placid 1980 – something Finns will never forget. In women’s events, Helena Takalo and Hilkka Riihivuori put up good races against the Soviet women in the 1970s and achieved gold and silver medals. 

Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi and Marjo Matikainen were the Finnish ski queens of the 1980s. Their numerous victories in FIS competitions and the Olympics, such as Kirvesniemi’s gold medals from Sarajevo and Lahti and Matikainen’s gold medals from Calgary and Lahti made Finnish people ecstatic. Harri Kirvesniemi began his long and successful career in the 1980s.  Mika Myllylä and Jari Isometsä were the stars of the 1990s. After the doping scandal in Lahti 2001, Finns lost their faith in Finnish skiing for a while. Then, however, Finnish women, led by Virpi Kuitunen, returned to the world elite in ski racing. 

Ski jumping landed in Finland in the 1870s, and Lahti has hosted ski jumping contests since 1908. Paavo Nuotio, Lauri Valonen and Esko Järvinen were among the early Finnish ski jumping stars in the 1920s and 1930s. The 1950s and early 1960s were also a golden era also for Finnish ski jumping. Matti Pietikäinen (Falun 1954) and Antti Hyvärinen (Cortina 1956) were the first to overthrow the Norwegians in FIS competitions and the Olympics. Juhani Kärkinen, Veikko Kankkonen and Niilo Halonen were also very successful. The first Finnish gold medallist in Nordic combined was Heikki Hasu in St. Moritz in 1948, thanks to his splendid skiing. Paavo Korhonen won the Nordic combined event in the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti in 1958. Rauno Miettinen and Jouko Karjalainen were frequent Nordic combined silver medallists in the 1970s and 1980s, respectively. 

New rising stars in ski jumping towards the end of the 1970s were Tapio Räisänen, Jouko Törmänen and Pentti Kokkonen. In the 1980s, Finland seemed unbeatable in ski jumping, thanks to Jari Puikkonen and, especially, Matti Nykänen. Matti Nykänen took all the gold medals in ski jumping in the Calgary Olympics in 1988 – an achievement that is still unrivalled today. Toni Nieminen, only 16 years old, was a sensation in the Albertville Olympics in 1992. Janne Ahonen, who started competing in the late 1990s, has been a very reliable contestant. The only ski jumper to date to win the Four Hills Tournament five times (in 2007–2008 for the fifth time), his name remains in the history of the sport. Samppa Lajunen and Hannu Manninen are among the most recent successful Finnish athletes in Nordic combined, both having won many medals. 

Many of the exhibits portrayed had never been on display before, such as medals and competition outfits of our top skiers and ski jumpers. They included the medals of Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi, Veikko Hakulinen, Juha Mieto, Veikko Kankkonen and Toni Nieminen.