Matti Nykänen

Matti Ensio Nykänen ( pronunciation ) (born 17 July 1963) is a Finnish former ski jumper who competed from 1981 to 1991. Widely considered to be the greatest male ski jumper of all time, Nykänen won five Winter Olympic medals (four gold), nine World Championship medals (five gold) and 22 Finnish Championship medals (13 gold). Most notably, he won three gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics, becoming, along with Yvonne van Gennip of the Netherlands, the most successful athlete at that event. Nykänen is the only ski jumper in history to have won all five of the sport's major events: a gold medal at the Winter Olympics (three times), the Ski Jumping World Championships (once), the Ski Flying World Championships (once), four World Cup titles, and the Four Hills Tournament (twice). His four World Cup titles is an all-time record shared with Adam Małysz and Sara Takanashi.

Since the 1990s, Nykänen's status as a celebrity has mainly been fueled by his colourful 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.

Nykänen on a postage stamp

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 at the time. 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. His other achievements include a total of nine medals (five golds) at the World Championship level. He also won a total of 46 World Cup competitions (Only topped by record-holder Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austria) and won the overall title four times (also a record, currently shared with Adam Małysz POL). He won the prestigious Four Hills Tournament twice. 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, 1987). In 1987, Nykänen was awarded the Holmenkollen Medal (shared with Hermann Weinbuch).

On 28 February 2008, he won the International Masters Championship, the world title for veterans.

Standings

Season	Overall	4H	SF
1980/81	26	–	N/A
1981/82	4	11	N/A
1982/83	01 !	01 !	N/A
1983/84	02 !	03 !	N/A
1984/85	01 !	02 !	N/A
1985/86	01 !	–	N/A
1986/87	6	65	N/A
1987/88	01 !	01 !	N/A
1988/89	9	02 !	N/A
1989/90	19	16	N/A
1990/91	–	–	–

Wins

No.	Season	Date	Location	Hill	Size
1	1981/82	30 December 1981	Oberstdorf	Schattenbergschanze K110	LH
2		28 February 1982	Oslo	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	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 1986	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

Nykänen has been married several times:

• Tiina Hassinen (1986–1988), one son
• Pia Hynninen (1989–1991), one daughter
• Sari Paanala (1996–1998) (Nykänen changed his surname to Paanala during this marriage)

Relationship with Mervi Tapola

Nykänen met millionaire sausage heiress Mervi Tapola in 1999, and they were married from 2001 to 2003. They were divorced in 2003, and remarried in 2004. This marriage was tempestuous and gave rise to many well-publicised incidents: The first reported assault against Tapola occurred in June 2000, following which a restraining order was imposed upon Nykänen. 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.

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

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, 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 and ordered to pay €5,000 in compensation to his wife for pain and emotional suffering, and €3,000 euros for legal expenses. In August 2010 Tapola made a 15th request for divorce.

Assault incident

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

As an entertainer

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 was released in 1992 and sold over 25,000 copies. Nykänen became the second Olympic gold medalist after Tapio Rautavaara to be awarded a golden record in Finland. The 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.

In 2002 Nykänen made a comeback as a singer and released the single "Ehkä otin, ehkä en". He also gave his name to a cider brand with the same advertisement slogan. In 2006 Nykänen released his third studio album Ehkä otin, ehkä en. Most of his musical career Nykänen has worked with professional musician Jussi Niemi. Nykänen has toured Finland performing 2 to 3 times a week with the Samurai ensemble led by Niemi.

Many of Nykänen's singles are 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 ('Maybe I did [drink], maybe I didn't').

In November 2009 Nykänen began to present his own cooking web series Mattihan se sopan keitti.

• In 1988 DPR Korea issued a postage stamp depicting Matti Nykänen in the flight during competition.
• In 2016, Swedish actor Edvin Endre portrayed Matti 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)
• Juha-Veli Jokinen: Missä me ollaan ja oonko mäkin siellä (2007)
• Juha-Veli Jokinen: Elämä on laiffii (2006)
• Kai Merilä: Matin ja minun rankka reissu (2005)
• Egon Theiner: Grüsse aus der Hölle (2004) (the English version of the book Greetings from Hell was published in January 2006)
• Antero Kujala: Voittohyppy (1999)
• Antti Arve: Matti Nykänen Maailman paras (1988)
• Kari Kyheröinen and Hannu Miettinen: Takalaudasta täysillä: Matti Nykäsen tie maailmanhuipulle (1984)
• Juha-Veli Jokinen: Myötä- ja vastamäessä (2010)