Forum für Finnen-Fans

Here is summary of Matti's interview. It's done so, that the reporter makes statements and Matti then either agrees or disagrees.

First statement is: "You could jump as far as possible if there would just be a big enough hill." Matti disagrees. Says that few year back he would have agreed but unfortunately as he has grown older he has become more aware at the risks especially at bigger hills and bad weather.

Second statement is: "Not even one of the current Finnish A team skijumpers would run over 3000 meters in the Cooper test." Matti disagrees and says there are few guys at the team who would run that.

Third statement: "You would have been even more successful skijumper if you would have been more selfish." Matti agrees. He says that it is difficult to know if that would have made a difference but tells that he has been told that he is at times too nice to make a winning jumper.

Fourth statement: "Equipments and winds are too big of a factor at ski jumping." Matti agrees and says that every time they have change equipment rules to lessen the importance of a wind it has failed and now equipment and wind are much more important than they were ten years ago.

Fifth statement: "More than half of jumpers at WC sircus smokes." Matti tries to avoid straight answer but tells that many do smoke. He also says that he should probably not say this, but that it is said, that cigs keep the hunger at bay and that is why smoking is so common with jumpers. [my note about this: He answers quite smartly. It would not be okay for any athlete in Finland to say publicly anything positive about smoking or even admit that they smoke, so this was a good answer. If they did, it would be a 'scandal' if the news day was slow enough otherwise.]

Sixth statement: "You drink more than ten cups of coffee a day." Matti tells that during the autumn and winter it is about that. He says that he may drink more coffee than is healthy but also coffee helps with hunger.

Seventh statement: "The worst nightmare during the season is delicious smelling food." Matti agrees. He tells that he feels that he is, if not downright overweight ski jumper, at least much bigger than many others. One important reason to that is that he likes food too much.

Last statement: "You get more than 100 date offers from female ski jumping fans a year." Matti disagrees. He says that it is not true at least any more.

Nice interview and it was also nice to see Matti being relaxed and amused by the questions.