Matti Nykänen memorabilia going on display at Estonian sport museum
From tomorrow, Thursday visitors to the Estonian Sports and Olympic Museum in Tartu can see items belonging to world-famous Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen, exhibited in Estonia for the first time.
Nykänen, who died in 2019, won his first Finnish championship title at just 17 years old, shortly followed by victory at the 1981 Junior World Championships. The sports museum is showing all 22 domestic championship medals he won, plus his first world championship gold in the junior category.
Siim Randoja, museum board member, said: "Thanks to great cooperation with the Finnish Sports Museum, we were able to bring to Estonia items belonging to four-time Olympic champion Matti Nykänen, in connection with the film made about him, which was screened at this year's Black Nights Film Festival."
"We are delighted that our Matti Nykänen-related items have received so much attention and positive feedback in Estonia. Matti Nykänen is a true legend in Finland, and his medals and other items are the most important part of our main exhibition at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. It is wonderful that these items are now also on display in Estonia, highlighting Matti's remarkable legacy in the world of sports," said Jouni Lavikainen, curator of the Finnish Sports Museum TAHTO.
Exhibits include a bib worn at the 1986 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, a gold record bearing his image, and even a Nykänen-themed bottle of cider.
Nykänen (1963-2019) won five Winter Olympic medals (four of them gold), nine World Championship medals (including five golds) during his illustrious career and remains the only ski jumper in history to have won all five of the sport's major individual titles. After sport he continued as a celebrity, launching a singing career. He also had a high-profile, tempestuous, and even sometimes violent off-track life.
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Editor: Andrew Whytem Kaspar Viilup.
