Friday, February 21, 2014

Gold for Finland!

Finland had a great day in the Sochi Winter Olympics on Wednesday when we got two medals on the same day! For a small country like Finland that kind of thing doesn't happen all the time; in fact, hardly ever. This time, however, both men and women got medals from cross-country skiing; women got silver and men gold!

It was great to hear the Finnish national anthem, Maamme, after a long period of time, and it was wonderful to see the joy in the athletes. Even though the extensive use of doping has -unfortunately- cast a permanent shadow on sports, it still is rousing to be involved in a major sporting event such as the Olympics. The spectators really feel involved, and the excitement is often very intense indeed. I guess those are the fundamental things in sports; to compete, to support, to feel excited, to feel exhilarated or to be really disappointed.

Today there is an exciting day for us Finns again, when the Finnish ice hockey team, Leijonat, is fighting against Sweden. The stakes are high: the winner gets to compete for the gold medal, whereas the loser will fight for positions three and four. Actually, the game is about to start as we speak, and if I hurry up, I just might catch a glimpse of the 3rd period when I get home...

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