Matti Nykänen

Matti Nykänen
Matti Nykänen 2014
Full name	Matti Ensio Nykänen
nation	Finland
birthday	17th July 1963
place of birth	Jyväskylä ,  Finland
Weight	55 kg
date of death	4th February 2019
Place of death	Joutseno ,  Finland
Career
Trainer	Hannu Lepistö
Pers. Best	191 m ( Planica 1985)
End of career	1991
Medal table
Olympic medals 4 × 1 × 0 × World Cup medals 6 × 2 × 3 × SFWM medals 1 × 1 × 3 ×
winter Olympics silver 1984 Sarajevo Normal hill gold 1984 Sarajevo Large hill gold 1988 Calgary Normal hill gold 1988 Calgary Large hill gold 1988 Calgary team  Nordic World Ski Championships gold 1982 Oslo Large hill bronze 1982 Oslo team silver 1984 Sarajevo Normal hill gold 1984 Engelberg team gold 1984 Sarajevo Large hill bronze 1985 Seefeld Large hill gold 1985 Seefeld team silver 1987 Oberstdorf Normal hill gold 1987 Oberstdorf team bronze 1989 Lahti Large hill gold 1989 Lahti team  Ski flying world championships bronze 1983 Harrachov singles gold 1985 Planica singles bronze 1986 Bad Mitterndorf singles bronze 1988 Oberstdorf singles silver 1990 Vikersund singles
Ski jumping world cup / A class jumping
Debut in the World Cup	March 6, 1981
World Cup victories (individual)	46 ( details )
Overall World Cup	1. ( 1982/83 , 1984/85 , 1985/86 , 1987/88 )
Four Hills Tournament	1. ( 1982/83 , 1987/88 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Single jump 40 20th 7th  Ski flying 6th 2 1

Matti Ensio Nykänen  [ ˈmɑtːi ˈnykænɛn ] (born July 17, 1963 in Jyväskylä ; † February 4, 2019 in Joutseno ) was a Finnish ski jumper who dominated his sport in the 1980s. With four Olympic gold medals, five world championship titles and four overall World Cup victories, he was one of the most successful ski jumpers ever. He was one of the five athletes (next to him Espen Bredesen , Thomas Morgenstern , Jens Weißflog and Kamil Stoch ) who won the most important four competitions in ski jumping ( Olympics , World Championships , Overall World Cup and Four Hills Tournament ).

Ski jumping career

Like his "eternal" competitor Jens Weißflog, Nykänen was a very easy jumper and celebrated his first major triumph at the World Championships on Holmenkollbakken in Oslo in 1982 at the age of only 18 with the world championship title on the large hill. This was followed by a further title in team jumping at the next four consecutive world championships (1984, 1985, 1987 and 1989).

After winning the Four Hills Tournament in 1982/83 and winning the overall World Cup in the same year, Nykänen won the gold medal on the large hill at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo a year later . At the age of 20, he had already won all the important ski jumping competitions. A month later he won the Oberstdorf flight week and improved the ski flying world record first to 182 m and then to 185 m.

In 1985 he won the ski flying world championship title in Planica with another world record flight at 191 m. In this and the following year he again secured the overall World Cup. In 1987 he was honored with the Holmenkollen Medal .

Nykänen had his best season in 1987/88. First he dominated the Four Hills Tournament and then secured all three gold medals awarded in ski jumping at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary . In addition, he won the overall World Cup for the fourth time.

In the late 1980s, Nykänen's star began to decline. His alcoholism became evident. He finally ended his career lackluster in 1991. He won a total of 46 World Cup competitions, which made him top the all-time list of the best until Gregor Schlierenzauer overtook him in 2013.

After the career

After the end of his career, Nykänens ventures as a pop singer and stripper were unsuccessful. He was married three times in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2001 he married for the fourth time. The Finnish tabloids reported in great detail about every escapade of the ski jumper who, according to current knowledge, suffered from ADHD . In 2003, Nykänen published an autobiography entitled Greetings from Hell .

In August 2004, Matti Nykänen and his wife were suspected of attempted manslaughter . They were accused of stabbing a 59-year-old alcohol-drunk friend in a cabin in Nokia after an argument over finger felling . He was sentenced to 26 months in prison. In the same year he suffered a heart attack from which he recovered well. After serving 13 months, he was released on parole in September 2005, but was returned to custody 103 hours later on charges of having inflicted a head wound on his wife Mervi with a heavy object while intoxicated. After Mervi had not filed a complaint, Nykänen was released again. In March 2006, Matti Nykänen was sentenced again to four months' imprisonment for mistreating his wife.

On January 13, 2006, a film about Matti Nykänen's life was released in Finnish cinemas. The main role was played by the well-known Finnish actor Jasper Pääkkönen . In the 2016 film Eddie the Eagle - Anything is Possible , Nykänen played by Edvin Endre can be seen as a supporting character.

On February 28th, 2008 Matti Nykänen won the world veteran title on the small hill in Taivalkoski , Finland in the 40 to 44 year old class. The previous day he emerged from the K-50 competition in fifth place.

On December 25, 2009, according to media reports, he attacked his wife with a knife and was arrested again. Mervi Tapola fled to the neighbors with cuts. As a result, a court sentenced him on August 24, 2010 in Pirkanmaa, southwest Finland, to 16 months in prison and to pay 6,600 euros in compensation for pain and suffering. The Turku Court of Appeal upheld the verdict. On February 29, 2012, he was paroled.

In the summer of 2014 Nykänen married Pia Talonpoika for the fifth time. He was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus in November 2018 . He became insulin-dependent , but still did not give up alcohol. Nykänen died on February 4, 2019 after recently complaining of dizziness and nausea. According to his sister's information in May 2019, he died of pancreatitis and pneumonia .

successes

World Cup victories in individual

No.	date	place	Type
1.	December 30, 1981	Oberstdorf	Large hill
2.	0February 8, 1982	Oslo	Large hill
3.	March 13, 1982	Tauplitz / Bad Mitterndorf	Ski jump
4th	18th December 1982	Cortina d'Ampezzo	Normal hill
5.	04th January 1983	innsbruck	Large hill
6th	January 15, 1983	Lake Placid	Large hill
7th	January 16, 1983	Lake Placid	Large hill
8th.	January 23, 1983	Thunder Bay	Large hill
9.	February 18, 1983	Vikersund	Ski jump
10.	February 19, 1983	Vikersund	Ski jump
11.	February 20, 1983	Vikersund	Ski jump
12.	February 27, 1983	Falun	Large hill
13.	March 27, 1983	Planica	Normal hill
14th	February 18, 1984	Sarajevo	Large hill
15th	0March 3, 1984	Lahti	Normal hill
16.	04th March 1984	Lahti	Large hill
17th	March 17, 1984	Oberstdorf	Ski jump
18th	March 18, 1984	Oberstdorf	Ski jump
19th	04th January 1985	innsbruck	Large hill
20th	0February 9, 1985	Sapporo	Normal hill
21st	0March 2, 1985	Lahti	Normal hill
22nd	March 10, 1985	Oslo	Large hill
23.	March 23, 1985	Štrbské Pleso	Normal hill
24.	March 24, 1985	Štrbské Pleso	Large hill
25th	January 11, 1986	Harrachov	Large hill
26th	January 18, 1986	Klingenthal	Large hill
27.	January 25, 1986	Sapporo	Normal hill
28.	January 26, 1986	Sapporo	Large hill
29	0March 1, 1986	Lahti	Normal hill
30th	0March 2, 1986	Lahti	Large hill
31.	March 22, 1986	Planica	Normal hill
32.	07th December 1986	Thunder Bay	Large hill
33.	0March 1, 1987	Lahti	Normal hill
34.	0March 8, 1987	Falun	Large hill
35.	05th December 1987	Thunder Bay	Normal hill
36.	0December 6, 1987	Thunder Bay	Large hill
37.	December 19, 1987	Sapporo	Large hill
38.	December 20, 1987	Sapporo	Large hill
39.	0January 1, 1988	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Large hill
40.	04th January 1988	innsbruck	Large hill
41.	0January 6, 1988	Bischofshofen	Large hill
42.	January 20, 1988	St. Moritz	Normal hill
43.	0March 5, 1988	Lahti	Normal hill
44.	0March 6, 1988	Lahti	Large hill
45.	17th December 1988	Sapporo	Large hill
46.	0January 1, 1989	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Large hill

World Cup placements

season	space	Points
1981/82	04th	138
1982/83	01.	277
1983/84	02.	217
1984/85	01.	224
1985/86	01.	250
1986/87	06th	133
1987/88	01.	282
1988/89	09.	106
1989/90	19th	055

Hill records

place	country	Expanse	set up on	Record up
Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Germany	104.0 m ( HS : 140 m)	January 1, 1984	January 1, 1984
Engelberg	Switzerland	120.5 m ( HS : 137 m)	February 26, 1984	17th February 1985
Planica	Slovenia	187.0 m ( HS : 225 m)	March 15, 1984	March 16, 1984
Planica	Slovenia	191.0 m ( HS : 225 m)	March 16, 1984	March 15, 1987
Oberstdorf	Germany	182.0 m ( HS : 225 m)	March 16, 1984	March 17, 1984
Oberstdorf	Germany	185.0 m ( HS : 225 m)	March 17, 1984	January 24, 1992
Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Germany	109.0 m ( HS : 140 m)	January 1, 1989	January 1, 1994
Vikersund	Norway	171.0 m ( HS : 225 m)	February 25, 1990	February 18, 1995

literature

Finnish postage stamp from 1988

• Matti Nykänen, Egon Theiner: Greetings from Hell . Autobiography. Wero-Press, Pfaffenweiler 2003, ISBN 978-3-9808049-9-8 .

Web links

Commons : Matti Nykänen  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Unofficial website about Matti Nykänen (Finnish)
• Matti Nykänen in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Matti Nykänen in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Literature by and about Matti Nykänen in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Eddie the Eagle - Anything is Possible in the Internet Movie Database , accessed December 17, 2019
2. ↑ Attack on the holiday: Olympic champion Nykänen stabs his wife. In: Spiegel Online . December 27, 2009, accessed January 11, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Otto Palojärvi: Suomi suree Matti Nykäsen poismenoa - olisi voinut voittaa kymmenen olympiakultaa (Finland complains about the departure of Matti Nykänens, who could have won ten Olympic gold medals). In: Uusi Suomi .fi. February 4, 2019, accessed February 4, 2019 (Finnish). 
4. ↑ Florian Kinast: Matti Nykänen: Memories of a fascinating and tragic ski jumper. In: Spiegel Online . February 4, 2019, accessed February 4, 2019 . 
5. ↑ Marko Lempinen: Omaiset paljastavat nyt ensimmäistä kertaa Matti Nykäsen kuolinsyyn. In: is.fi. May 18, 2019, accessed June 8, 2019 (Finnish).