Matti Nykänen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Matti Nykänen |
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Nykänen in January 2014
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Country | Finland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Full name | Matti Ensio Nykänen | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Jyväskylä, Finland |
17 July 1963|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 4 February 2019 Lappeenranta, Finland |
(aged 55)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal best | 191 m (627 ft) Planica, 15 March 1985 |
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World Cup career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Seasons | 1981–1991 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Individual wins | 46 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indiv. podiums | 76 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indiv. starts | 130 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overall titles | 4 (1983, 1985, 1986, 1988) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Four Hills titles | 2 (1983, 1988) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Updated on 10 February 2016. |
Matti Ensio Nykänen ( 17 July 1963 – 4 February 2019) was a Finnish ski jumper who competed from 1981 to 1991. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers of all time, having won five Winter Olympic medals (four gold), nine World Championship medals (five gold), and 22 Finnish Championship medals (14 gold). Most notably, he won three gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics, becoming, along with Yvonne van Gennip of the Netherlands, the most medaled athlete that winter.
Nykänen is the only ski jumper in history to have won all five of the sport's major events: a gold medal at the Winter Olympics (three times), the Ski Jumping World Championships (once), the Ski Flying World Championships (once), four World Cup overall titles, and the Four Hills Tournament (twice). His four World Cup titles is an all-time male record shared with Adam Małysz. Nykänen remains the only male five-time ski flying world record holder in history.
Contents
Ski jumping career
For most of the 1980s, Nykänen and Jens Weißflog of East Germany dominated the sport. Nykänen won gold and silver at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. His 17.5-point gold medal victory was the largest margin of victory in Olympic ski jumping history at the time. He was also the first ever to win gold medals on both hills at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
In 1985 he flew 191 metres in Planica, a world record that stood briefly until Piotr Fijas (Poland) flew 194 metres, again in Planica, in 1987. His other achievements include a total of nine medals (five golds) at the World Championship level. He also won a total of 46 World Cup competitions (only now topped by the current record-holder Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austria) and won the overall title four times (also a record, currently shared with Adam Małysz Poland).
He won the prestigious Four Hills Tournament twice. He competed in the FIS Ski Flying World Championships five times and placed in the medals every time. Nykänen also won the ski jumping competition at the Holmenkollen ski festival twice (1982, 1985). In 1987, Nykänen was awarded the Holmenkollen Medal (shared with Hermann Weinbuch).
On 28 February 2008, he won the International Masters Championship for veteran ski jumpers.
The only one with five world records
On 16 March 1984, he set ski jumping world distance record on official training two times at 182 metres (597 ft). And on the next day at 185 metres (607 ft), all three in Oberstdorf, West Germany.
On 15 March 1985, he set two ski jumping world distance records on official training at 187 metres (614 ft) and at 191 metres (627 ft), both of them on Velikanka bratov Gorišek in Planica, Yugoslavia.
Olympic games
Standings
Event | Normal hill | Large hill | Team |
---|---|---|---|
1984 Sarejevo | Silver | Gold | N/A |
1988 Calgary | Gold | Gold | Gold |
World Cup
Standings
Season | Overall | 4H | SF |
---|---|---|---|
1980/81 | 26 | — | N/A |
1981/82 | 4 | 11 | N/A |
1982/83 | N/A | ||
1983/84 | N/A | ||
1984/85 | N/A | ||
1985/86 | — | N/A | |
1986/87 | 6 | 65 | N/A |
1987/88 | N/A | ||
1988/89 | 9 | N/A | |
1989/90 | 19 | 16 | N/A |
1990/91 | — | — | — |
Wins
No. | Season | Date | Location | Hill | Size |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1981/82 | 30 December 1981 | Oberstdorf | Schattenbergschanze K110 | LH |
2 | 28 February 1982 | Oslo | Holmenkollbakken K105 | LH | |
3 | 12 March 1982 | Tauplitz/Bad Mitterndorf | Kulm K165 | FH | |
4 | 1982/83 | 18 December 1982 | Cortina d’Ampezzo | Trampolino Italia K92 | NH |
5 | 4 January 1983 | Innsbruck | Bergiselschanze K104 | LH | |
6 | 15 January 1983 | Lake Placid | MacKenzie Intervale K114 | LH | |
7 | 16 January 1983 | Lake Placid | MacKenzie Intervale K114 | LH | |
8 | 23 January 1983 | Thunder Bay | Big Thunder K120 | LH | |
9 | 18 February 1983 | Vikersund | Vikersundbakken K155 | FH | |
10 | 19 February 1983 | Vikersund | Vikersundbakken K155 | FH | |
11 | 20 February 1983 | Vikersund | Vikersundbakken K155 | FH | |
12 | 27 February 1983 | Falun | Lugnet K112 | LH | |
13 | 26 March 1983 | Planica | Srednja Bloudkova K90 | NH | |
14 | 1983/84 | 18 February 1984 | Sarajevo | Igman K112 | LH |
15 | 2 March 1984 | Lahti | Salpausselkä K88 | NH | |
16 | 4 March 1984 | Lahti | Salpausselkä K113 | LH | |
17 | 17 March 1984 | Oberstdorf | Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze K182 | FH | |
18 | 18 March 1984 | Oberstdorf | Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze K182 | FH | |
19 | 1984/85 | 4 January 1985 | Innsbruck | Bergiselschanze K109 | LH |
20 | 9 February 1985 | Sapporo | Miyanomori K90 | NH | |
21 | 1 March 1985 | Lahti | Salpausselkä K88 | NH | |
22 | 10 March 1985 | Oslo | Holmenkollbakken K105 | LH | |
23 | 23 March 1985 | Štrbské Pleso | MS 1970 B K88 | NH | |
24 | 24 March 1985 | Štrbské Pleso | MS 1970 A K114 | LH | |
25 | 1985/86 | 11 January 1986 | Harrachov | Čerťák K120 | LH |
26 | 17 January 1986 | Klingenthal | Aschbergschanze K102 | LH | |
27 | 25 January 1986 | Sapporo | Miyanomori K90 | NH | |
28 | 26 January 1986 | Sapporo | Ōkurayama K112 | LH | |
29 | 1 March 1986 | Lahti | Salpausselkä K90 | NH | |
30 | 2 March 1986 | Lahti | Salpausselkä K113 | LH | |
31 | 22 March 1986 | Planica | Srednja Bloudkova K90 | NH | |
32 | 1986/87 | 7 December 1986 | Thunder Bay | Big Thunder K120 | LH |
33 | 1 March 1987 | Lahti | Salpausselkä K88 | NH | |
34 | 8 March 1987 | Falun | Lugnet K112 | LH | |
35 | 1987/88 | 5 December 1987 | Thunder Bay | Big Thunder K89 | NH |
36 | 6 December 1987 | Thunder Bay | Big Thunder K120 | LH | |
37 | 19 December 1987 | Sapporo | Miyanomori K90 | NH | |
38 | 20 December 1987 | Sapporo | Ōkurayama K115 | LH | |
39 | 1 January 1988 | Garmisch-Partenkirchen | Große Olympiaschanze K107 | LH | |
40 | 4 January 1988 | Innsbruck | Bergiselschanze K109 | LH | |
41 | 6 January 1988 | Bischofshofen | Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K111 | LH | |
42 | 20 January 1988 | St. Moritz | Olympiaschanze K94 | NH | |
43 | 4 March 1988 | Lahti | Salpausselkä K90 | NH | |
44 | 6 March 1988 | Lahti | Salpausselkä K114 | LH | |
45 | 1988/89 | 17 December 1988 | Sapporo | Miyanomori K90 | NH |
46 | 1 January 1989 | Garmisch-Partenkirchen | Große Olympiaschanze K107 | LH |
Ski jumping world records
He set five world records in total, the most of any ski jumper in history.
Date | Hill | Location | Metres | Feet |
---|---|---|---|---|
16 March 1984 | Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze K182 | Oberstdorf, West Germany | 182 | 597 |
16 March 1984 | Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze K182 | Oberstdorf, West Germany | 182 | 597 |
17 March 1984 | Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze K182 | Oberstdorf, West Germany | 185 | 607 |
15 March 1985 | Velikanka bratov Gorišek K185 | Planica, Yugoslavia | 187 | 614 |
15 March 1985 | Velikanka bratov Gorišek K185 | Planica, Yugoslavia | 191 | 627 |
Personal life
Nykänen was married six times:
- Tiina Hassinen (1986–1988), one son
- Pia Hynninen (1989–1991), one daughter
- Sari Paanala (1996–1998) (Nykänen changed his surname to Paanala during this marriage)
- Mervi Tapola (2001–2003, remarried 2004–2010)
- Pia Talonpoika (2014– his death)
As an entertainer
When Nykänen's ski jumping career was drawing to a close, a group of businessmen proposed to make him a singer. His first album Yllätysten yö (Night of surprises) was released in 1992 and sold over 25,000 copies. Nykänen became the second Olympic gold medalist after Tapio Rautavaara to be awarded a golden record in Finland. His next album Samurai (1993) was not as successful.
In 2002, Nykänen made a comeback as a singer and released the single "Ehkä otin, ehkä en" ("Maybe I took [it], maybe I didn't"). He also gave his name to a cider brand with the same advertisement slogan. In 2006 Nykänen released his third studio album Ehkä otin, ehkä en (Maybe I took it, maybe I didn't). During most of his musical career, Nykänen worked with professional musician Jussi Niemi. Nykänen toured Finland performing two to three times a week with the Samurai ensemble led by Niemi.
Many of Nykänen's singles were named after some (in)famous quotes by Nykänen, such as Elämä on laiffii ("Life is life"), Jokainen tsäänssi on mahdollisuus ("Every chance is a possibility"), and Ehkä otin, ehkä en.
In November 2009, Nykänen began to present his own cooking web series Mattihan se sopan keitti (After all, it's a soup kitchen).
Death
Matti Nykänen died at his home in Lappeenranta, shortly after midnight on 4 February 2019, from a sudden illness, at the age of 55. He had complained of dizziness and nausea earlier that night. He had been diagnosed with diabetes less than three months earlier. The news of his death was widely reported by the media both in Finland and abroad, with many tributes also paid to him by fellow ski jumpers of his time. He was survived by his fifth wife and three children, two from previous relationships and one outside of marriage. In May 2019 Nykänen's sisters confirmed that the cause of death was pancreatitis and pneumonia.
See also
In Spanish: Matti Nykänen para niños
- Matti Pulli