Finland regards ice hockey as its national ball, but since its first appearance at the Winter Olympics in 1928, the Finnish men's team has won six medals and has never had a gold medal. In the final of the Beijing Winter Olympics on the 20th, the team reversed the defending champion Russian Olympic Committee team 2-1 after conceding one goal first, and finally won the Winter Olympic Championship for the first time.
At the moment of the final whistle, all the players on the Finnish team's bench rushed into the field, everyone threw away their helmets and hugged each other tightly, and head coach Yalonin also excitedly threw the stack of technical statistics printing paper in his hand into the air. "It's hard to say because we haven't won an Olympic gold medal before." Vice Captain Antilla was interviewed later, and she hadn't even figured out how to celebrate.
In this match, the first team to score was the Russian Olympic Committee. However, Finland scored goals in the opening stages of the second and third quarters respectively, and staged a big reversal. "When the opponent scored, each of us was calm and didn't panic. We firmly believe we can score goals and win the game in the end. Main striker Maninin said.
Poca, who scored the equaliser for his team, said that although he did not score many goals in Beijing, he was too excited to score in the final and help his team win. Björnnin, a striker who scored the winning goal and desperately threw himself on the ice in the last 15 seconds of the game to prevent his opponents from attacking, attributed the victory to the team's efforts: "We know how to play, and we know what we want to show in the game, we just did it together and enjoyed the game." ”
For the first Olympic title, all the players were incredible and excited. "It's unbelievable, I don't know how to describe it. It feels so good to win an Olympic gold medal. Poca said. Maninen, who was named to the All-Star squad for the Winter Olympics, said winning Olympic medals is every athlete's lifelong dream, "and we have now won a gold medal." It's amazing! ”
The last time Finnish men's ice had a chance to compete for the Winter Olympic title was 16 years ago, when they lost to Sweden in the turin Winter Olympic final. "I watched the game and I was very sad." Poca said, "Because that Finnish team is very good. We're glad that now we've finally won the gold medal and made history. Björninien revealed that he was only 10 years old at the time and was deeply touched by the final, "It was a wonderful game, but unfortunately the Finnish team missed the opportunity." But those players are still our heroes, we just have to believe in ourselves and keep fighting like them, and then go to the Olympics and fight for the championship. Today we did it! ”