Athlete profile: Ari-Pekka Nikkola

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

A veteran of three Olympic Games, Nikkola, one of the great classical jumpers during the early ‘90s, may have finally recovered from the sports' monumental switch to the V-style of jumping...he took one year off from the World Cup circuit in 1993, hoping to master the V-style, but still had problems with his jumping technique in Lillehammer..."It's hard to do something different when you do it one way for 15 years," says Nikkola. "Before I would have both skis on the right side. But with the V-style, I had to change my left ski to the left side. I had a big problem positioning my left ankle in the first 20-30 meters of the takeoff. If you get that takeoff right, the other parts are okay. But if the takeoff is not right then there is a big problem in the air"...after winning back-to-back team golds in Calgary and Albertville, Nikkola did not even receive the opportunity to help Finland defend their team title at the '94 Games..."Our trainer Kari Ylianttilla (now, U.S. team coach) gave me a choice of either competing on the normal hill or for the team," says Nikkola. "I wanted more to do the individual Events"...unfortunately for Nikkola, things did not quite work out on either the normal or large hill -- "I think my form was okay but I was very nervous to jump well in Lillehammer. It was very much a mental problem"...Nikkola placed 16th on the normal hill and 22nd on the large hill in Lillehammer...after the Olympics, things finally began falling into place for the veteran of the Finnish squad...he regained his confidence with several solid finishes to close the '94 season, and then placed eighth overall on the World Cup circuit in 1995...Nikkola came full circle in 1996, placing second in the World Cup standings to nearly match his World Cup title of 1990...at last year's World Championships at Trondheim, he finished fourth on the large hill and helped a balanced Finnish team to first place in the team competition...again among the sport's elite, Nikkola thinks he has a chance to reclaim medal status in his fourth and final Olympics -- "It's going better and better all of the time. My summer training has been very good. I feel I can still improve but I want a medal"...he has especially high hopes for the team competition in Nagano..."I think right now we have four really good jumpers, maybe even five," says Nikkola. "I like to jump first and if the person who jumps first jumps good, it makes it easier for everyone else. Then (teammate Jani) Soininen jumps very good all of the time when he is in good shape -- not up and down but at one level. Same with (teammate Janne) Ahonen. But we'll see what happens there. The Japanese will be very tough"...he recalls Calgary as his favorite Olympics, mainly because the setup there facilitated greater interaction with athletes from his favorite sport -- ice hockey..."In Calgary, we lived in the same village as the ice hockey players," says Nikkola. "I was able to learn a lot there"...he laments that in Nagano, the ski jumpers will be housed in Hakuba, 100 km from where the best hockey players in the world, including his personal favorite -- Teemu Selanne, will live...in reflecting on his career, Nikkola notes that the quality of ski jumpers in Finland, though still strong, has noticeably dropped in recent years..."Usually, in Finland, there are many good jumpers. I think it is because we have a lot of snow here, and the winter is long. But it is not the same the past two or three years. I think ice hockey is taking the best athletes now here"...trained as an auto mechanic, Nikkola works for Saab three months a year, selling spare parts...he is a part-owner of his family's trucking firm...his father, Juoko, and older brother, Kari, drive the family's two trucks used to transport products...his mother is always on the phone organizing the trips...he enjoys playing various sports, including volleyball and ice hockey, with his teammates, and walking his German shepherd in his free time...Nikkola speaks English...