Finland hopes to gain medals at cross-country ski and ice hockey: Finnish ambassador

Bilateral ties between China and Finland will continue to prosper in multiple areas, while the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics will bring more opportunities for the two nations’ future cooperation, said Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, newly-appointed Finnish ambassador to China, during an exclusive interview with People’s Daily Online.

Despite the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, Beijing is set to mark an historic achievement in February, when it will become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The ambassador believed that as a nation where winter sports are popular, Finland will seize this opportunity to further strengthen cooperation with China.

“Our two presidents agreed in 2017 that 2019 would be the year of winter sports between China and Finland. 2019 has passed but there are still plenty of things we can do together, especially thinking about the forthcoming Winter Olympics in February 2022. Finnish companies, for example, have been very active in doing their share in building the venues and preparing for the Winter Olympics. Winter sports are kind of a way of life for Finnish people, and we want to bring this notion to our Chinese friends,” said the ambassador.

China and Finland have a historical connection when it comes to the Olympics. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the country’s first presence at an Olympics was in the capital of Finland, Helsinki, which hosted the 1952 summer Olympic Games.

“I think the Finnish team will have rather ambitious goals joining the Beijing Winter Olympics. We are very good at cross-country ski and ice hockey, and I think these are the ones in which we sincerely hope to gain some medals, and I have to say that Finnish people, including me, would be very disappointed if that doesn’t take place. As a Finn, I really hope to see the Finnish flag waving high during the Olympics and Paralympics,” added the ambassador.