I started as a full-time sports journalist in 2000. Before that I worked with Juha Siltala as a research assistant in 1990 and for the next ten years as an information specialist in the Finnish Sports Library. I did not complete my Master’s degree because I was offered a permanent job during the recession in the early 1990s. I did still find the time to drop off my Master’s thesis on my professor’s desk.

It was a dream job to work in the sports library tower of the Olympic Stadium with others who were interested in sports and history. At the same time I got to know the VIPs of Finnish sports research and work as a correspondent for the Finnish Society for Sport History.

I rather drifted into journalism at the turn of the millennium. While I was working in the library on the main job, I realised that I was writing more and more stories for different platforms. When I was offered a job in the sports division of a new media company, I jumped on the online bandwagon. The company soon folded, but the leap I took continues to this day. In 2002 I found myself at the Veikkaaja newspaper, for which I had already been writing columns for a couple of years. Veikkaus PLC sold its paper to the Sanomat group and I moved on to a job with the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper, which is where I am now.

While working in journalism, I have written a dozen books, either individually or in collaboration with others. The first publication, Toiveesta tosi (‘The Real Toive’), came out in 1994 and celebrated the 60th anniversary of my boyhood club, Orimattila Toive. Researching the different eras of the organisation was fascinating because my father’s family has been significantly involved in the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation since the 1930s.

Two of the more interesting book projects I’ve had a hand in were for the centenaries of the Football Association of Finland and the Finnish Olympic Committee. They both reached their century in 2007, so we authors weren’t short of things to do in 2005–06.

In addition to the history of the Olympic games, I have had first-hand experience of all five rings. I’ll never forget the games in Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. As the picture below demonstrates, even in the hustle and bustle of the tournament reporters may need to reinvent themselves as bike mechanics on a night-shift.