Olympics | Ronja Grönblom belongs to a rare Finnish chain – this is how she comments on the pressures of the family

Paris

Sailor Ronja Grönblom reaches a rare Finnish chain that has representatives in the Olympic Games in four generations.

Grönblom sails in the Olympic waters in Marseille Veera Hokan with in the 49er FX class, where the first starts are on Sunday.

Ronja’s father Richard Grönblom competed in the Finnjolla class in Montreal in 1976 and in the Star class in Atlanta in 1996.

Grandfather Sven Grönblom was fifth in the 1936 Berlin Olympic sailing in the crew of the Finnish 8mR boat, where his uncle Gunnar Grönblom was the skipper and owner of the boat.

In the Ocean Globe Race, which ended in the spring, Ronja’s mother Pia Grönblom was involved Tapio Lehtinen skippering Galiana WithSecure – in the boat’s team.

The mother is also coming to Marseille to encourage her daughter towards the medal starts of ten boats, which is the goal of the boat community.

“Sister and brother will also come, so we will have a real family reunion. Although I have told the family that it would be great if you come, but take care of your own trip”, says Ronja Grönblom via remote connection from the sailing port.

To sail Ronja Grönblom learned to be an optimist at the family cottage when she was under school age. Anyway, sailing has always been a part of the family’s everyday life and hobbies, although Ronja has also enjoyed ballet, skiing and balance beam gymnastics.

“I had options, but in the end sailing was the clear choice.”

Grönblom does not feel that he has any pressure from his family in his sport.

“It’s cool, I haven’t experienced anything negative. Sailing has always been present in the family, and the family has supported in every way.”

Grönblom started sailing with Hoka in 2018. Hoka’s studies were on hiatus, and he was asked to camp in Portugal as Grönblom’s friend.

Since then, the two have sailed in the same boat.

Which of you controls the boat?

“Ronja, she has a pinna (steering boom),” Hokka laughs.

Finland the sailing team also has another member of a relative who participated in the Ocean Globe Race.

Windsurfer by Jakob Eklund brother Anton was also involved in circumnavigating the globe.

“I wouldn’t go on a trip like that right away. I like to sleep at night. My performance on the board takes four minutes, Anton took 50 days for one section,” says Jakob Eklund.

In Marseille, Eklund is making Finnish sailing history. He is the first Finnish windsurfer in the Olympic Games.

Tuuli Petäjä-Sirén won Olympic silver on the board in London 2012 and also competed in the 2016 and 2021 games.

“It’s nice to get something new and hopefully continue the tradition. “Four years until the next Olympic Games is a long time,” says Eklund.

The iQFoil class will also be an Olympic sailing sport in 2028 in Los Angeles.

Boarders compete on similar boards provided by the organizers. As the name suggests, the class has a foil at the bottom of the board, i.e. a kind of airfoil, on which the man, board and sail fly.

“I got the foils already at the end of April, so I’ve been able to pull with them.”

If there is enough wind, the boarders will start their race on Sunday with a 60-90 minute marathon race, for which you will get double points. A standard round takes about four minutes, and depending on the wind four rounds are sailed.

“The marathon is not my favorite, but in terms of stress, it’s good if it can be taken away from me. For the wind, however, it can be uncertain.”

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