Finland competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Finnish athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games since the nation's official debut in 1908.
The Finnish Olympic Committee (Finnish: Suomen Olympiakomitea, SO) sent a team of 54 athletes, 26 men and 28 women, to compete in 15 sports at the Games.[2][3] The nation's full roster also achieved a historic milestone, as the number of female athletes outnumbered the men for the first time. Among the sports represented by its athletes, Finland made its Olympic debut in golf (new to the 2016 Games), table tennis, and women's wrestling, as well as its return to archery, boxing, equestrian eventing, and rhythmic gymnastics after long years of absence.
The Finnish team featured four past Olympic medalists returning to the Games: Beijing 2008 women's trap champion Satu Mäkelä-Nummela, the oldest competitor of the roster (aged 43), javelin throwers Tero Pitkämäki and Antti Ruuskanen (both won bronze in 2008 and 2012, respectively), and windsurfer Tuuli Petäjä-Sirén (silver, 2012), who was appointed by the committee to carry the Finnish flag by a female for the second time in the opening ceremony.[1][4] Despite swimming only in the medley relay, Hanna-Maria Seppälä set a record as the first ever Finnish female athlete to participate in five consecutive Olympic Games.[5] Other notable competitors on the Finnish roster included the country's fastest freestyle swimmer Ari-Pekka Liukkonen, sailing brothers Joonas and Niklas Lindgren in the 470 class, and hammer thrower David Söderberg.[3]
Finland left Rio de Janeiro with only a bronze medal, won by boxer Mira Potkonen in the women's lightweight event,conquered on the 12th day of the Games, when virtually all athletes in the country had ended their participation.This lone medal prevented the country for the first time in the history of the Summer Games from finishing with without any medal in an edition, but it consolidated the worst performance in Finnish history at the Games.[6] Several Finnish athletes reached the finals of their respective events including Ruuskanen (sixth, javelin throw), Söderberg (eighth, hammer throw), and sailor Tuula Tenkanen (fifth, Laser Radial).
^ abLaine, Sami (2 August 2016). "Tuuli Petäjä-Sirén kantaa Suomen lippua Riossa" [Tuuli Ptäjä-Sirén will bear the Finnish flag in Rio] (in Finnish). Yle.
^Männikkö, Ville (18 July 2016). "Suomi lähtee Rioon monipuolisella joukkueella" [Finland's versatile team goes to Rio] (in Finnish). Turun Sanomat. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^ ab"Suomen joukkue Rioon paisui 54 urheilijaan" [The Finnish team to Rio increased to 54 athletes] (in Finnish). Savon Sanomat. 18 July 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^"Rio 2016, more flag bearers for sailing than Beijing and London combined". International Sailing Federation. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
^"Hanna-Maria Seppälästä kypsyi äidin valmennuksessa historiallinen uimari – tänään viidettä kertaa olympialaisissa" [From her mother's coaching, Hanna-Maria Seppälä transformed herself into the swimming legend, going to the Olympics for the fifth time] (in Finnish). Yle. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^"For Finns, the most disappointing Olympics ever". Yle. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
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