Sweden and Finland are engaged in all kinds of mutual competitions in athletics, floorball, poker, wife carrying etc. The most important of these fights is no doubt the so-called Finnkampen, an annual athletics event held every autumn since 1925.
Traditionally, Finland is host in even years and Sweden in odd years. Looking at the results it’s not a world-class event. No single world record has been set, but few competitions in the world are fiercer and more prestigious. In Finland, the event has always been held at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.
In Sweden the venues have alternated between the Stockholm Olympic Stadium and lately mostly the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, which has a larger spectator capacity.
Finnkampen was arranged for the first time in Helsinki in 1925, with one of the competitors being the five-time Olympic Champion middle and long distance runner Paavo Nurmi. The first Finnkampen competitions were influenced by the so called love-hate-relationship between Sweden and Finland. The 1931 event was a victory for Finland, but tensions on the track led to a knuckle fight between the runner-ups in the 800m race. It was a real fistfight, just like in the ice hockey games today.
After the games, the chairman of the Finnish athletics union Urho Kekkonen, later the president of Finland, announced that Finland would no longer take part in the event. The tension is said to have been caused by attempts from the Swedish side to have Paavo Nurmi declared a professional athlete and banned from international competitions.
The Swedes won in the end, and Paavo Nurmi was banned from the summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 1932. In 1939 the games were finally resumed, just before the outbreak of the Second World War, which led to the cancellation of the event between 1941 and 1944.
Interestingly, the 1940 competition was held as a triple event between Finland, Sweden and Germany. Since 1925 Finland has won the Finnkampen 45 times and Sweden 27 times. This year Sweden had a landslide victory over Finland in men’s, women’s and girls’ categories, whereas the Finnish boys won over their Swedish competitors with some points.
Today, Sweden is stronger than Finland in many fields, take economy, for example. Finland is struggling with an external debt of over 57% of BNP, whereas the corresponding figure for Sweden is about 35%. In WEF’s competitiveness analysis Finland is, however, one pinhole better, being 3rd worldwide while Sweden is number four. Unemployment in Sweden is 7,3%, in Finland 8,4. Sweden’s pony-tailed minister of finance has done a good job, whereas the Finnish rainbow (or better six-pack) government has a tough time ahead of them.
Talking about rainbows, our Minister of culture and sports was waving the rainbow flag while attending the world athletics championship in Moscow as an invited guest. A green MP wore a rainbow tie at the 150th anniversary of the Finnish Parliament a couple of weeks ago in front of a solemn audience and some Russian guests of honour. Where is the world heading amidst the global crisis? Yesterday some 50 people participated in a hetero-pride demonstration. What will be the next move?