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In an interview with the Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomat, Olli recounts her new attempt to return to the top of the Finnish and international jump years after years of focusing on his numerous headshots produced at the out of the racing trampolines.
Friday 1 September 2017 7 minutes reading time
Where were we staying with Harri Olli's jumper career? Sapporo's Silver World Cup 2007, Three World Cup Wins in 2009 and 'Being One of the Best Volleyers in the Circuit until 2010. There is followed by the most complete darkness.
Since 2009-10 his name has filled up with the scandalist tabloids Suomi, who do not deal with sports companies and, on the other hand, is totally erased from the ski jumping charts.
The causes of this rapid decline range from a few barbies, drunk driving, workout delays, multiple shots from the National Team; interspersed with the only positive note: the wedding in Rovaniemi with his kind wife Tiia.
But in July 2016, featuring a character that we can call "particular", our undocumented flyer delights us with the latest headline sponsorship and appearing in a TV commercial of an Austrian online betting company well knowing that the Federation Finnish winter sports has the main sponsors of Veikkaus - a Finnish government betting and gaming company! -
This is followed by a further exclusion from the Mitter team for an indefinite period and a lawsuit with the Federation that sees him succumb and condemns the payment of a $ 70,000 penalty and perhaps forever disappears from international radar.
With the new 2017 year, Olli once again felt the spark inside itself, just as it was in her short, beautiful times past: "During last winter I returned to the desire I had in the past decade, and the spark who approached me to jump during my teenage years, a genuine fire, I wanted to leave behind all the problems of the past, and now I'm having fun jumping as I had been doing for a long time during the early years of my career. Skiing is now the most important thing for me. I definitely want to be in the Olympic Games in South Korea. "
But to achieve this goal, the 32-year-old of Rovaniemi must first overcome two major obstacles: to reach an agreement with the Federation to overcome the ongoing case and overcome the November start selections to regain a chest in the national team.
In reference to the first issue, Olli is confident of an agreement after a first meeting with the Executive Director of the Finnish Federation Mika Kulmala. "I had a recent contact with Mr Kulmala and the feedback is positive. I'm very confident. "
Encounter also confirmed by Kulmala himself who commented "The doors to Olli are semi-open. Certainly it is possible to agree on the ongoing dispute with the Federation but I do not want to reveal what he has to do or no longer have to do. The ball is in any case in Olli's hands. He knows our position. "
This was the bureaucratic question.
While on the agonistic side to get closer to the top internal positions, the rebel flyer was entrusted to the new coach Tuomas Virtanen.
Unknown outside the Finnish borders, Virtanen is very much appreciated at home as personal technician of that Anssi Koivuranta he led to the conquest of the crystal ball in the Nordic Combined and the only but historic success of Anssi in the special jumping.
This is the comment of Kuusamo's engineer on the first three months of cooperation with Olli:
"Harri has been fully engaged in our workouts beginning with the beginning of May. From the beginning we analyzed his technique and now the situation is at least promising. His talent remains and his technique has not disappeared. We are still at the beginning of our journey. Physical preparation now begins to bear fruit and its technique is beginning to stabilize and adapt to new materials. "
Olli at this time, besides concentrating on the workouts, is also personally involved in seeking new sponsors who can help him in his long redemption process that he would like to turn into a long, long-term ambitious project: "I want to jump for many years yet, age for me is not an obstacle at all. I have the example of Janne Ahonen and her 40 years. I want to go back to being a successful jumper. "
There is nothing left to wait until the beginning of November and the selections that coach Andi Mitter will play in order to assign the national chests to Ruka's upgrades to see if Olli's words are true, and has finally calmed the hot spirits, or if I am a photocopy of those already expressed in 2014 before the one-hour bravado with further exclusion from the Finnish national team.
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