Matti Nykänen

Matti Ensio Nykänen (pronounced [ˈmɑtːi ˈnykænen] ; 17 July 1963 – 4 February 2019) was a Finnish ski jumper who competed from 1981 to 1991. Known as "The Flying Finn", 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 one of only two ski jumpers in history – the other being Domen Prevc – to have won all five of the sport's major individual titles: 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.

From the 1990s onwards, Nykänen's status as a celebrity was mainly fueled by his personal relationships, his career as a pop singer, and various incidents often related to heavy use of alcohol and violent behaviour. He was sentenced to 26 months in prison following a stabbing incident in 2004, and again for 16 months following an aggravated assault on his wife in 2009. He died in 2019 at the age of 55, suffering from chronic pancreatitis.

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 (later surpassed by the current record-holder Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austria) and won the overall title four times (also a record, currently shared with Adam Małysz of Poland).

He won the prestigious Four Hills Tournament twice. He competed in the FIS Ski Flying World Championships five times and won a medal 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.

On 16 March 1984, he set ski jumping world distance record on official training twice 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.

He set five world records in total, the most of any ski jumper in history.

Sari Paanala (1996–1998) (Nykänen changed his surname to Paanala during this marriage)

Mervi Tapola (2001–2003, remarried 2004–2010)

Nykänen met millionaire “sausage heiress” Mervi Tapola (1954–2019) in 1999, and they were married from 2001 to 2003.

They got divorced in 2003 and remarried again in 2004. The marriage was tempestuous and gave rise to many well-publicised incidents: The first reported assault against Tapola occurred in June 2000, following a restraining order that was imposed upon Nykänen. In 2004, Nykänen was handed a suspended sentence for assaulting Tapola again. Nykänen had already been accused of assaulting Tapola in 2001, but the charges were withdrawn because Tapola exercised her right to remain silent.

When Nykänen's ski jumping career was drawing to a close, a group of businessmen proposed to make him a singer. His debut studio album Yllätysten yö 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.

At the end of the 1990s, due to serious financial problems, Nykänen worked as a stripper in a Järvenpää restaurant. The restaurateur was reproached for the exploitation of Nykänen.

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 (Matti cooked the soup).

In the early 2000s, Nykänen was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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.

In 1988, DPR Korea issued a postage stamp depicting Nykänen in flight during competition.

In 2016, Swedish actor Edvin Endre portrayed Nykänen, in the British biographical sports film Eddie the Eagle.

A film about the life of Nykänen, simply entitled Matti, was released in 2006 with Finnish actor Jasper Pääkkönen cast as Nykänen. The movie focused on Nykänen's exploits beyond ski jumping.

Matti Nykänen, Päivi Ainasoja and Manu Syrjänen: Mattihan se sopan keitti (2007)

Juha-Veli Jokinen: Missä me ollaan ja oonko mäkin siellä (2007)

Juha-Veli Jokinen: Elämä on laiffii (2006)

Kai Merilä: Matin ja minun rankka reissu (2005)

Egon Theiner: Grüsse aus der Hölle (2004) (the English version of the book Greetings from Hell was published in January 2006)