Coming back home: Finnish Paralympian’s snow dream and Chinese adventure

After a fresh snowfall, the frozen landscape of Zhangjiakou outside Beijing in north China offers the perfect blank page to embrace new dancing feet. Matti Sairanen, a Finnish Paralympian, rode those hills as if they were his blank canvas and his snowboard the pen tip.

Weeks before flying to China to participate in the 2022 Beijing Paralympics, Sairanen posted on Facebook that he would visit his “老家 (old hometown) in a little bit.”

Matti Sairanen performs a hand stand in Olari, Finland. [Photo provided by Matti sairanen]

“Due to my father’s work, my family moved to China when I was 2. Since then, I have lived in China off and on for 20 years. China is like an old home to me,” Sairanen told People’s Daily Online.

Almost a decade after his first visit to Zhangjiakou, the city’s changes have left the Finnish snowboarder in awe. The once shabby city has since been transformed into a giant sports center with glimmering venues and countless sets of disabled-friendly equipment. It is here where he will compete with Paralympians from around the globe, pursuing his snow dream.

The adventure of “Chinese Matti”

Finnish Nightmares by Karoliina Korhonen has sparked a new word in Mandarin, jingfen’. （Photograph: Karoliina Korhonen）

To most Chinese, the Finnish Matti that they are familiar with is a socially awkward cartoon character from the Finnish Nightmares comic series. In Mandarin, a new term has even been coined to describe people similar to the hero in the comic: namely, 精芬（Jingfen）, or “spiritually Finnish.” The term refers to Chinese people who dislike socializing – like the Finns, apparently, – and take their personal space “extremely seriously.”

Matti the Fin snowboarder, on the other hand, is quite different from the cartoon character. A talkative and outgoing Fin, Matti said his experience of living and studying in China had made him “spiritually Chinese.” His friends in China know him by the name 刘迪 (Liu Di), while decades of living in Beijing has turned him into a living map of the city.

Matti and his Chinese cousin, Liu Jing, in Beijing, north China, 1994. [Photo provided by Matti Sairanen]

“I spent my childhood in China, got my degree at the Beijing Language and Cultural University, worked and met my french wife here. My life in China has surely made me a mixture of [different cultures],” said Sairanen.

According to Sairanen, travelling across China has provided some of his most unforgettable memories about his “old hometown”. He was fascinated by the diversity of culture across the country, as well as how beautiful its natural landscapes are.

“It is so good to be back in China. All the sports venues and facilities are well-made, and they work quite well for athletes with disabilities, and the course is just superb, giving me loads of fun,” said Sairanen.

Matti tries out a skateboarding trick at Anli Road, in north China’s Beijing, in 2008, which was before he had his paralysed arm amputated. [Photo provided by Matti Sairanen]

Many years after living in Finland, coming back to participate in the Paralympics is an important spiritual journey for Matti. It is a journey of reconnecting the old memories, searching for a new purpose in his life, and returning with an ultimate goal to shine on the Paralympics stage.

A life with colorful goals

Matti and his friends snowboard in Rovaniemi, Finland, in 2018. [Photo provided by Matti Sairanen]

Laughter and chitchats are the sunshine that drives winter away from the human face. And for Sairanen and other Paralympians, this couldn’t be more true.

“While I was training today, I met many other snowboarders from Romania, the UK, and Poland. We shared information about the courses and discussed the weather today, had some chitchats, it felt nice,” said Sairanen.

“Even though some of these guys are, technically speaking, my opponents, we help each other out just the same, and that’s one of the reasons why I love snowboarding so much,” he added.

Matti competes as a Taekwondo athlete at the Finnish National Championships in Lieto, Finland, 2022. [Photo provided by Matti Sairanen]

A Paralympian in snowboarding, Sairanen is also a two-time world champion silver medalist in Para Taekwondo. He also won a bronze in the long-distance, no-spin knife throw at the 2018 world championships.

“I enjoy different sports. I think Taekwondo, snowboarding and knife-throwing are all the same, the point is to aim at your goal, as well as control your body and life,” said Sairanen.

“For instance, when I am snowboarding, I think about the course, the board and myself, and after a while, I know that I am all of those things. Your brain is creating your environment, the board is what you stand on, and your body is you. Sports allows you to be just yourself,” he added.

Matti at the knife-throwing Fedin Cup in Moscow, Russia, 2018. [Photo provided by Matti Sairanen]

For Sairanen, positive attitudes towards life and respect for others are the most important to a Paralympian.

“I have noticed that physically-challenged athletes are usually very positive because we have gone through something [challenging], and it has taught us not to take ourselves too seriously, but also care for other people,” said Sairanen.

“We should always assume that people are struggling with their problems, and being considerate can make it easier to deal with people,” he added.