Matti Nykänen

Matti Nykänen
Nykänen in January 2014
Country	Finland
Full name	Matti Ensio Nykänen
Born	(1963-07-17)17 July 1963 Jyväskylä, Finland
Died	4 February 2019(2019-02-04) (aged 55)[1] Lappeenranta, Finland
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Personal best	191 m (627 ft) Planica, 15 March 1985
World Cup career
Seasons	1981–1991
Indiv. starts	130
Indiv. podiums	76[2]
Indiv. wins	46[2]
Overall titles	4 (1983, 1985, 1986, 1988)
Four Hills titles	2 (1983, 1988)
Medal record Men's ski jumping Olympic Games 1984 Sarajevo Individual LH 1988 Calgary Individual NH 1988 Calgary Individual LH 1988 Calgary Team LH 1984 Sarajevo Individual NH Ski Jumping World Championships 1982 Oslo Individual LH 1984 Engelberg Team LH 1985 Seefeld Team LH 1987 Oberstdorf Team LH 1989 Lahti Team LH 1987 Oberstdorf Individual NH 1982 Oslo Team LH 1985 Seefeld Individual LH 1989 Lahti Individual LH Men's ski flying Ski Flying World Championships 1985 Planica Individual 1990 Vikersund Individual 1983 Harrachov Individual 1986 Bad Mitterndorf Individual 1988 Oberstdorf Individual Junior World Championships 1981 Schonach Individual NH
Updated on 10 February 2016.

Matti Ensio Nykänen (pronounced [ˈmɑtːi ˈnykænen] ^ⓘ; 17 July 1963 – 4 February 2019)^[1] was a Finnish ski jumper who competed from 1981 to 1991. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers of all time,^[3] having won five Winter Olympic medals (four gold), nine World Championship medals (five gold), and 22 Finnish Championship medals (14 gold).^[1] Most notably, he won three gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics, becoming, along with Yvonne van Gennip of the Netherlands, the most medaled athlete that winter.

Nykänen is the only ski jumper in history to have won all five of the sport's major individual titles: a gold medal at the Winter Olympics (three times), the Ski Jumping World Championships (once), the Ski Flying World Championships (once), four World Cup overall titles, and the Four Hills Tournament (twice). His four World Cup titles is an all-time male record shared with Adam Małysz. Nykänen remains the only male five-time ski flying world record holder in history.

From the 1990s onwards, Nykänen's status as a celebrity was mainly fueled by his personal relationships, his career as a pop singer, and various incidents often related to heavy use of alcohol and violent behaviour. He was sentenced to 26 months in prison following a stabbing incident in 2004, and again for 16 months following an aggravated assault on his wife in 2009.^[4]

For most of the 1980s, Nykänen and Jens Weißflog of East Germany dominated the sport. Nykänen won gold and silver at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. His 17.5-point gold medal victory was the largest margin of victory in Olympic ski jumping history at the time.^{[citation needed]} He was also the first ever to win gold medals on both hills at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

In 1985 he flew 191 metres in Planica, a world record that stood briefly until Piotr Fijas (Poland) flew 194 metres, again in Planica, in 1987.^{[citation needed]} His other achievements include a total of nine medals (five golds) at the World Championship level.^{[citation needed]} He also won a total of 46 World Cup competitions (only now topped by the current record-holder Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austria) and won the overall title four times (also a record, currently shared with Adam Małysz Poland).^{[citation needed]}

He won the prestigious Four Hills Tournament twice.^[5] He competed in the FIS Ski Flying World Championships five times and placed in the medals every time. Nykänen also won the ski jumping competition at the Holmenkollen ski festival twice (1982, 1985). In 1987, Nykänen was awarded the Holmenkollen Medal (shared with Hermann Weinbuch).^[6]

On 28 February 2008, he won the International Masters Championship for veteran ski jumpers.^[7]

On 16 March 1984, he set ski jumping world distance record on official training two times at 182 metres (597 ft).^[8][9][10] And on the next day at 185 metres (607 ft), all three in Oberstdorf, West Germany.^[11][12]

On 15 March 1985, he set two ski jumping world distance records on official training at 187 metres (614 ft) and at 191 metres (627 ft), both of them on Velikanka bratov Gorišek in Planica, Yugoslavia.^[13][14]

Event	Normal hill	Large hill	Team
1984 Sarajevo	Silver	Gold	N/A
1988 Calgary	Gold	Gold	Gold

Season	Overall	4H	SF
1980/81	26	—	N/A
1981/82	4	11	N/A
1982/83			N/A
1983/84			N/A
1984/85			N/A
1985/86		—	N/A
1986/87	6	65	N/A
1987/88			N/A
1988/89	9		N/A
1989/90	19	16	N/A
1990/91	—	—	—

No.	Season	Date	Location	Hill	Size
1	1981/82	30 December 1981	Oberstdorf	Schattenbergschanze K110	LH
2		28 February 1982	Oslo (WCS)	Holmenkollbakken K105	LH
3		12 March 1982	Tauplitz/Bad Mitterndorf	Kulm K165	FH
4	1982/83	18 December 1982	Cortina d’Ampezzo	Trampolino Italia K92	NH
5		4 January 1983	Innsbruck	Bergiselschanze K104	LH
6		15 January 1983	Lake Placid	MacKenzie Intervale K114	LH
7		16 January 1983	Lake Placid	MacKenzie Intervale K114	LH
8		23 January 1983	Thunder Bay	Big Thunder K120	LH
9		18 February 1983	Vikersund	Vikersundbakken K155	FH
10		19 February 1983	Vikersund	Vikersundbakken K155	FH
11		20 February 1983	Vikersund	Vikersundbakken K155	FH
12		27 February 1983	Falun	Lugnet K112	LH
13		26 March 1983	Planica	Srednja Bloudkova K90	NH
14	1983/84	18 February 1984	Sarajevo (OWG)	Igman K112	LH
15		2 March 1984	Lahti	Salpausselkä K88	NH
16		4 March 1984	Lahti	Salpausselkä K113	LH
17		17 March 1984	Oberstdorf	Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze K182	FH
18		18 March 1984	Oberstdorf	Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze K182	FH
19	1984/85	4 January 1985	Innsbruck	Bergiselschanze K109	LH
20		9 February 1985	Sapporo	Miyanomori K90	NH
21		1 March 1985	Lahti	Salpausselkä K88	NH
22		10 March 1985	Oslo	Holmenkollbakken K105	LH
23		23 March 1985	Štrbské Pleso	MS 1970 B K88	NH
24		24 March 1985	Štrbské Pleso	MS 1970 A K114	LH
25	1985/86	11 January 1986	Harrachov	Čerťák K120	LH
26		17 January 1986	Klingenthal	Aschbergschanze K102	LH
27		25 January 1986	Sapporo	Miyanomori K90	NH
28		26 January 1986	Sapporo	Ōkurayama K112	LH
29		1 March 1986	Lahti	Salpausselkä K90	NH
30		2 March 1986	Lahti	Salpausselkä K113	LH
31		22 March 1986	Planica	Srednja Bloudkova K90	NH
32	1986/87	7 December 1986	Thunder Bay	Big Thunder K120	LH
33		1 March 1987	Lahti	Salpausselkä K88	NH
34		8 March 1987	Falun	Lugnet K112	LH
35	1987/88	5 December 1987	Thunder Bay	Big Thunder K89	NH
36		6 December 1987	Thunder Bay	Big Thunder K120	LH
37		19 December 1987	Sapporo	Miyanomori K90	NH
38		20 December 1987	Sapporo	Ōkurayama K115	LH
39		1 January 1988	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K107	LH
40		4 January 1988	Innsbruck	Bergiselschanze K109	LH
41		6 January 1988	Bischofshofen	Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K111	LH
42		20 January 1988	St. Moritz	Olympiaschanze K94	NH
43		4 March 1988	Lahti	Salpausselkä K90	NH
44		6 March 1988	Lahti	Salpausselkä K114	LH
45	1988/89	17 December 1988	Sapporo	Miyanomori K90	NH
46		1 January 1989	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K107	LH

He set five world records in total, the most of any ski jumper in history.

Nykänen was married six times:

• Tiina Hassinen (1986–1988), one son^[15]
• Pia Hynninen (1989–1991), one daughter^[15]
• Sari Paanala (1996–1998)^[15] (Nykänen changed his surname to Paanala during this marriage^[16])
• Mervi Tapola (2001–2003, remarried 2004–2010)
• Pia Talonpoika (2014– his death)

Nykänen met millionaire “sausage heiress” Mervi Tapola (1954–2019^[17]) in 1999,^[15] and they were married from 2001 to 2003.^[18] They got divorced in 2003, and remarried again in 2004.^[18] The marriage was tempestuous and gave rise to many well-publicised incidents: The first reported assault against Tapola occurred in June 2000, following a restraining order that was imposed upon Nykänen.^[18] In 2004, Nykänen was handed a suspended sentence for assaulting Tapola again. Nykänen had already been accused of assaulting Tapola in 2001, but the charges were withdrawn because Tapola exercised her right to remain silent.^[19]

In September 2005, while on probation for another assault, Nykänen was re-arrested four days after his release for abusing his partner again. Nykänen was convicted and imprisoned for four months on 16 March 2006. Soon after his release, he stabbed a man in a pizza restaurant in Korpilahti.^[19] In the summer of 2009, Tapola (then Tapola-Nykänen) petitioned for divorce a 14th time, but cancelled it.^[20]

On Christmas Day 2009, Nykänen allegedly injured his wife with a knife and tried to throttle her with a bathrobe belt. He was charged for attempted manslaughter and held in custody by Tampere police,^[19] but was released on 28 December after charges were dropped for insufficient evidence. On 24 August 2010, Nykänen was convicted of grievous bodily harm and sentenced to 16 months in prison^[4] and ordered to pay €5,000 in compensation to his wife for pain and emotional suffering and €3,000 for legal expenses.^[21] In August 2010, Tapola made a 15th request for divorce.

On 24 August 2004, Nykänen was arrested on suspicion of attempted manslaughter of a family friend after losing a finger pulling competition^[22] in Tottijärvi, Nokia.^[23] In October 2004, he was found guilty of aggravated assault, and sentenced to 26 months in prison.^[4] As it was a first offence, he was released in September 2005.

When Nykänen's ski jumping career was drawing to a close, a group of businessmen proposed to make him a singer. His first album Yllätysten yö (Night of surprises) was released in 1992 and sold over 25,000 copies.^[24] Nykänen became the second Olympic gold medalist after Tapio Rautavaara to be awarded a golden record in Finland. His next album Samurai (1993) was not as successful.

At the end of the 1990s, due to serious financial problems, Nykänen worked as a stripper in a Järvenpää restaurant. The restaurateur was reproached for exploitation of Nykänen.^[25]

In 2002, Nykänen made a comeback as a singer and released the single "Ehkä otin, ehkä en" ("Maybe I took [it], maybe I didn't"). He also gave his name to a cider brand with the same advertisement slogan.^[26] In 2006 Nykänen released his third studio album Ehkä otin, ehkä en (Maybe I took it, maybe I didn't).^[27] During most of his musical career, Nykänen worked with professional musician Jussi Niemi. Nykänen toured Finland performing two to three times a week with the Samurai ensemble led by Niemi.^[28]

Many of Nykänen's singles were named after some (in)famous quotes by Nykänen, such as Elämä on laiffii ("Life is life"), Jokainen tsäänssi on mahdollisuus ("Every chance is a possibility"), and Ehkä otin, ehkä en.

In November 2009, Nykänen began to present his own cooking web series Mattihan se sopan keitti (After all, it's a soup kitchen).

In the early 2000s, Nykänen was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.^[29][30]

Matti Nykänen died at his home in Lappeenranta, shortly after midnight on 4 February 2019, from a sudden illness, at the age of 55.^[31] He had complained of dizziness and nausea earlier that night.^[32] He had been diagnosed with diabetes less than three months earlier.^[33][34] The news of his death was widely reported by the media both in Finland and abroad, with many tributes also paid to him by fellow ski jumpers of his time.^[35][36] He was survived by his fifth wife and three children,^[1] two from previous relationships and one outside of marriage.^[37] In May 2019 Nykänen's sisters confirmed that the cause of death was pancreatitis and pneumonia.^[38]

• In 1988 DPR Korea issued a postage stamp depicting Nykänen in the flight during competition.
• In 2016, Swedish actor Edvin Endre portrayed Nykänen, in the British biographical sports film Eddie the Eagle.

• Yllätysten yö (1992)
• Samurai (1993)
• Ehkä otin, ehkä en (2006)

• A film about the life of Nykänen, simply entitled Matti, was released in 2006 with Finnish actor Jasper Pääkkönen cast as Nykänen. The movie focused on Nykänen's exploits beyond ski jumping.

• Matti Nykänen, Päivi Ainasoja and Manu Syrjänen: Mattihan se sopan keitti (2007)^[39]
• Juha-Veli Jokinen: Missä me ollaan ja oonko mäkin siellä (2007)^[39]
• Juha-Veli Jokinen: Elämä on laiffii (2006)^[39]
• Kai Merilä: Matin ja minun rankka reissu (2005)^[39]
• Egon Theiner: Grüsse aus der Hölle (2004)^[39][40] (the English version of the book Greetings from Hell was published in January 2006)
• Antero Kujala: Voittohyppy (1999)^[39]
• Antti Arve: Matti Nykänen Maailman paras (1988)^[39]
• Kari Kyheröinen and Hannu Miettinen: Takalaudasta täysillä: Matti Nykäsen tie maailmanhuipulle (1984)^[39]
• Juha-Veli Jokinen: Myötä- ja vastamäessä (2010)^[39]

• Matti Pulli

• Matti Nykaenen at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation