The Finnish Team in XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver achieved total of five medals. The best Finnish athlete was Peetu Piiroinen, who won silver in snowboarding halfpipe competition. Two bronze medals were achieved in both cross-country skiing and ice hockey. Women’s 4 x 5 km relay team (Pirjo Muranen, Virpi Kuitunen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen and Aino-Kaisa Saarinen) as well as Aino-Kaisa Saarinen in individual 30 km were in the medal positions in cross-country skiing. In ice hockey both men’s and women’s teams were third in their Olympic tournaments. Finland didn’t reach the goal, which was 12 medals.

Snowboard athlete Ilkka-Eemeli Laari has injured his knee during practice run and won’t be compeeting in Vancouver. Markku Koski will replace him.

Ice hockey player Ville Peltonen will carry the Finnish flag at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Peltonen has previously participated in three Olympic tournaments, winning a medal each time: bronze in Lillehammer 1994, bronze in Nagano 1998 and silver in Turin 2006. In Nagano he scored the winning goal for Finland in the bronze medal game against Canada. In Finland Ville Peltonen is best remembered for his three goals against Sweden in the World Championship final of 1995, which earned the Finnish Lions their first and so far only gold medal at major international tournaments.

A total of 95 athletes have been nominated for the Finnish Olympic Team for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, 35 women and 60 men. Nominations were made in five sets. The goal of the team was set already at the end of May 2009, when the first nominations were made. The goal is to achieve altogether 12 medals and at least one of them gold.

Finnish women’s ice hockey team for the Olympic Games in Vancouver was nominated today. The roster of 21 names consists of 9 players who have previous Olympic experience and 12 newcomers at Olympic level. The team includes 14 players from Finnish clubs and 5 who play collegiate hockey in the United States. One players comes from the Russian women’s league and one from Denmark where she plays in men’s league. The players with most Olympic experience are Emma Laaksonen and Karoliina Rantamäki, who are both going to their fourth Olympic Games. They played already in Nagano 1998 when Finland won bronze medals.

Finnish men’s ice hockey team for the Olympic Games in Vancouver has been nominated. The roster of 23 names includes 15 players who were in the silver medal team in Turin 2006 and 8 newcomers in Olympic tournaments. 18 members of the Finnish Olympic team play in NHL, 4 in KHL (Russia) and one in the Swedish Elitserien. The players with most Olympic experience are Teemu Selänne and Jere Lehtinen, who are going to their fifth Olympic Games. Saku Koivu, Jere Lehtinen and Ville Peltonen have all achieved three Olympic medals before Vancouver.

The board of the Finnish Olympic Commitee nominated six athletes from three different sports to the Finnish Team to Vancouver in the second selection meeting. Anssi Koivuranta, Hannu Manninen, Janne Ryynänen and Jaakko Tallus are going to represent Finland in nordic combined, as well as Sanni Leinonen in alpine skiing and Peetu Piiroinen in snowboarding. Altogether 17 athletes are now nominated, including 11 nominated already in last May. There will be still three nominations: December 30, 2009 men’s ice hockey team, January 13, 2010 women’s ice hockey team and January 28, 2010 final selections of the individual sports.

The Finnish Olympic Committee set the goal for the Vancouver 2010 at the end of May 2009. The goal is to achieve altogether 12 medals. At the same time the board of the Finnish Olympic Committee nominated already 11 athletes to the Finnish Team. It is estimated that the team will consist of 100 to 110 athletes at the Games. Next nominations will be done in December 2009.