Scan Magazine

First to the Finnish line

Ben Kersley looks at how Finland gets the gold medal for sporting creativity. In 1952, the Finns hosted the Olympics and in what should have been their sporting zenith they even managed to come behind Hungary in the medals table. In ice hockey, the quintessential Nordic sport, Finland usually goes home with silver to Sweden’s gold. Other than the odd bit of ski jumping and some middle distance running, no major sport has ever been troubled by Finnish domination.