Olympics | The Finnish athletes played a huge prank on the coaching legend

Paris

Prize competitions during this time it is often good to also remember the past funny things.

A hurdler Arto Bryggare returned Etelä Suomen Sanomat To the memories of 40 years ago at the Los Angeles Olympic Games 1984.

Bryggare, who won bronze in the high-speed hurdles, recalled the crazy prank they had played on a Finnish sports boss.

“For the first time, internet-based communication was available. Passwords were already important things back then. One future nerd and I had fun with people’s passwords,” Bryggare told the magazine.

However, Bryggare did not want to reveal the details of the prank.

“Erkki Niemi know better. He is a tech geek and that ‘future geek’. Call him,” Bryggare says on the phone from his cabin in Finland.

Also former high jumper Niemi is warming up in the sauna when he answers the call.

“Well, it was just fooling around. Nothing serious. IBM, the sponsor of the games, had an e-mail-type system that included a results service. Everyone had been assigned personal usernames. As a young teeker, I was interested in the system,” says Niemi, now 62.

Niemi noticed that IBM’s system was created quite schematically. He and Bryggare quickly hacked the passwords created there.

“Nowadays, we would say that we did a little hacking with Arts. We sent messages in other people’s names. The victim was chosen Seppo “Nitti” Nuuttila.”

Nuuttila was an experienced coach, training manager and sports director who had played many sports. In Los Angeles, he was the head coach of the Rowing Association and was involved in lifting Pertti from Karpp Olympic champion.

“It was good-natured fun. We sent messages to different people in Niti’s name suggesting meetings at the stadium gates. Niti always had to meet a different person who was not an athlete. Nitti ran from gate to gate to meet, but didn’t meet anyone,” says Niemi.

Was the mess ever revealed to Nuuttila?

“I don’t think the story was ever revealed. Artsi must have told about it somewhere, but I don’t know if Nitti heard it. It didn’t come up during the Games.”

Nuuttila died in October 2020.

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“Nitti ran from gate to gate to meet, but didn’t meet anyone.”

Peninsula also remembers well another incident that happened in the stands of the Olympic Stadium in Los Angeles.

A weightlifter Pekka Niemi – no relation – came to Erkki Nieme’s side in the evening to watch the Finnish day of athletics on August 6, 1984. In addition to Bryggare’s fencing bronze Juha Tiainen won the toss and Tiina Lillak threw Olympic silver in the javelin.

Pekka Niemi had lifted earlier in the day in the B group, while the A group only competed in the evening.

“Pekka used to check the results in the press gallery to see how he was doing. Then he came back and said I won bronze and I’m here. It was completely unexpected. I was the first to congratulate Pekka, who was in a hurry for the prize distribution,” says Erkki Niemi.

In my own in his competition, Niemi exceeded 224 cents in the qualifying and final competition. Niemi was ninth in the final, which would be the top ranking for a Finnish high jumper today.

“You didn’t know how to appreciate it that much back then. There were many successful Finnish people. It was tough to jump 224 days in a row and I was the third best European.”

“The Olympic competition was a unique experience. A bit envious of the company, when today’s athletes have much more opportunities than I do.”

High jump Niemi retired in 1987. Practically, the career began to fade in the Olympic year, when Niemi’s Achilles tendon broke in September in a national match in Spain.

His career ended before his time: Niemi was only 25 years old.

At the end of June, Niemi went to Vaasa to celebrate his 40-year-old Kaleva Games record of 228 cents. Niemi shares the competition record Mika Polun with.

The future nerd of Los Angeles continued in his chosen career. Today, he works as a consultant at a company called Optomed.

“I have worked in IT my entire working career.”