Calgary, 14 February 1988, XV Olympic Winter Games. Matti NYKANEN of Finland waves to the crowd after receiving his gold medal for the 70m ski jumping competition. Credit: Getty Images/Gray MortimoreOther names: NYKÄNEN, Matti
Born: 17 July 1963
Birthplace: Jyväskylä (Finland)
Nationality: Finland
Sport: Skiing
ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Sarajevo 1984
Calgary 1988
AWARDS
Olympic medals:
Gold: 4
Silver: 1
Other results:
World Championships
Gold: 4 (82, 85, 87, 89)
Silver: 1 (87)
Bronze: 3 (82, 85, 89)
Ski Jump Sweep
In 1984 Matti Nykänen of Jyväskla put together two near-perfect jumps to win the large hill event by the largest margin in Olympic history (17.5 points). He also earned a silver medal on the normal hill. In Calgary Nykänen won the normal hill event by a decisive 17 points and then won the large hill by 16.5 points.
This earned him a place in the record books as the first ski jumper to win two gold medals at the same Olympics. In 1988, for the first time, a third jumping event was added to the programme: the large hill team event. Nykänen led the Finnish team to victory and brought his career total to four gold medals and one silver medal.
