Winter sports leader wants to help China prepare for 2022

Timo Ritakallio, president of the Finnish Olympic Committee. [Photo by Fu Jing/chinadaily.com.cn]

Finland, a winter sports leader, should explore cooperation with China, the host of the 2022 Winter Olympics, according to a senior Finnish Olympics official.

"The 2022 Winter Olympic Games will bring new development, not only for Chinese sports but also for the international sports family," said Timo Ritakallio, who was named president of the Finnish Olympic Committee in November.

Ahead of President Xi Jinping’s visit to Finland, Ritakallio predicted it will bring the two countries closer, and enhance cooperation in sports.

Ritakallio pointed out that Finnish President Sauli Niinisto was formerly the president of the Finnish Football Federation and a man who knows about sport, at both the national and international level.

"I understand that China is putting more and more focus on developing winter sports," said Ritakallio. "China and Finland have good relations for a long time, so it’s an opportunity that the Finnish government should take."

Ritakallio said Finland is a very strong country in winter sports and is competitive in cross-county skiing, snowboarding and ice hockey.

"In this area, we have the world’s top coaches and I think China is developing these sports and teams. It would be good to have connections with the world winter sports organizations that would offer help to China," he said.

As part of the ongoing sports cooperation, a China-Finland winter sports seminar was held in Beijing on Jan 11, with hundreds of people attending, including government officials and businesspeople.

The scorer of the winning goal, Antti Kalapudas (L) celebrates with teammate Sami Niku after Finland defeated Sweden 2-1 at the 2016 IIHF World Junior Ice Hockey Championship semifinal match in Helsinki, Finland, on January 4, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

The forum was held during a visit by Jari Gustafsson, Finland’s vice-minister of economic affairs and employment.

A group of Finnish enterprises presented their winter sports products and services at the forum and explored business opportunities with Chinese partners.

In addition to exporting coaches and experience, Ritakallio believes Finland can also work with China by sharing its skills in producing artificial snow and ice in an environmentally friendly way.

"Due to climate change and global warming, even in Finland we must rely on artificial interventions on some occasions to have enough snow and ice to meet the minimum standards for such sports," said Ritakallio.

The Finnish company Snow Secure is already cooperating with the 2022 Olympics Organizing Committee in China.

Ice hockey is very popular in Finland and, even in small cities, ice for the ice hockey rinks is made artificially. In some places, artificial snow is created for cross-country skiing.

"Apart from the Olympics, we can also cooperate to promote sports (among non-professionals) as China has already planned to do so," said Ritakallio, who explained that Finnish business and sports sectors are keen to cooperate with China.

Ritakallio’s part-time role as president of the Finnish Olympic Committee will end after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

He said: "I visit China regularly because it feels that China is the future and it has the best business opportunities."