40 years old | Minna Kauppi, multiple world champion in orienteering, is still looking for her place in working life

GO STORE answers the call from his home in Lahti. The noise of children can be heard in the background. Five years old Old man has a fever, and is two years old Hearts-daughter has laryngitis. The last few days have been spent indoors.

“The guys are jumping on the walls, and I’ll start jumping with them soon,” Kauppi says and laughs.

“When no one is a snitch at home.”

According to him, it is easy to believe. Kauppi is a nine-time world champion in orienteering, a two-time European champion, a multiple Finnish champion and a two-time youth world champion.

It’s allowed to hang out outside.

WHAT made him superior?

Kaappi is a bit confused by the question. He says that he himself does not feel that he has ever been superior to others, although he thinks that he was a fairly optimal orienteer in terms of physical characteristics. He combined natural strength and good oxygen absorption.

He still names his competitive spirit and the desire to win as his greatest asset. For them, he was ready to sacrifice almost everything else.

Shop that is, the everyday life of a top athlete for almost twenty years. It was an extreme life that required constant commitment, high ambition and decisive character. Maybe a little crazy.

But it was also a privileged time. Like an adventure.

Kauppi states that he was by no means a perfect guide. He characterizes himself as fickle as a competitor and names his ability to concentrate as his biggest problem. On bad days, he could easily get lost.

“There are a lot of people in orienteering who are really passionate about the sport. I’m not like that. Of course I enjoy the sport, but maybe not as much as many others in the national team. For me, competing and physical performance have always been the number one thing.”

What explains the world championships?

“It’s no coincidence, of course,” says Kauppi.

“I just really wanted to win. And when that victory was achieved, he lived in such hubris for a while. All emotions were in full swing. But in the end, those victories didn’t make life any easier. It was the kind of momentary spike one had wanted and craved.”

PROFESSIONAL CAREER as an orienteer ended in 2015 due to health problems. Kauppi had suffered from chronic colitis for a long time, which caused inflammation and constant fatigue in the body. In his last two seasons, he was barely able to compete.

But he would have been on the eve of his career despite the illness. The life cycle of the sports profession is so much shorter than in many other professions, Kauppi reminds.

She takes her husband, the drummer of the band Apulanta, as a point of comparison Simo “Sip” Santa Claus toowho can rock even to the grave if he wants to.

Are you jealous?

“Not really,” Kauppi says.

“In a way, it’s also a privilege that you have to give up your dream and look for new things in your life. It is not very easy to give up something that you are good at and that has been a big part of your life almost always. I had also started to notice a clear routinization in myself. The biggest fire was going out. That’s why it would have been wrong to continue.”

SHOPPER says that he lived the years after his sports career largely on the children’s terms, but that he tried his wings somewhat in working life as well. He has worked, among other things, in marketing tasks at a cottage company, as an executive director at an orienteering club and has done various jobs in the event industry.

Currently, through his own company, he does sports-related work as well as longer placements as a language teacher. He is also qualified for the latter. Kauppi graduated with a master’s degree from the University of Jyväskylä’s Department of Language and Communication Sciences just over ten years ago.

But it doesn’t seem to be her true calling, just like being a stay-at-home mom isn’t. Kauppi says he also misses other kinds of challenges in his life. What kind, he can’t say yet.

The guide is still looking for his tick?

“Yeah, I’m still in that ferment. When I still don’t really know what my dream job could be. Although I learned many things while playing sports, it didn’t really qualify me for anything. I won’t ride anywhere with those medals anymore”, says Kauppi.

“I feel that the identity of a top athlete is somehow also limiting. Sport was such an important and comprehensive part of my life that I would really like to find similar feelings in other activities. Such a deeper sense of meaning. That work is not just work.”

SPORT still plays an important role in Kaup’s life. He plans to celebrate his upcoming anniversary with exercise as well. Kauppi says that on his birthday he runs a 40-kilometer run, which starts from the yard of his childhood home in Vääksy and goes through various childhood routes to the party place in Lahti.

“It’s kind of a history tour of my life,” he reasons.

Why do you want to run?

The merchant laughs. “Just for fun.”