C: So not only the foreigners but also our Chinese people can feel the rapid change about China. Helsinki Olympic was held in 1952 which was the first Olympic Games P.R.C participated after its establishments. What kind of impression do you have on Helsinki Olympics? Some one said the Helsinki Olympic Games is the cleanest Olympic Games in the history, what is your opinion on this seeing and why?

A: I was 2 years old so I don’t have personal impression about Helsinki Olympics but all Finns we know it was a very create event for us. It happened only 7 years after the 2nd world war, Finland was also involved in the war, that was a dark period. The reconstruction took a long time; all this ended in 1952 not completely but the economy situation had improved. People had to look into the future with more confidence. The game crowed all this positive thoughts together, Finland was a small country then and our links to the rest of the world were not extensive. So the game of itself was a kind of open up. It was good for us and also for the whole world. It sometimes said the Helsinki Olympic Games was the last real sports event as far as Olympic held. And suddenly this through of one sense, namely, after this event become so big, actually very few cities in the world can afford apply to organize them. In Finland, China, Soviet Union and Germany were all together, and in those days we didn’t experience any threats of politics. And of course we did not have any doping problems if we talk about the clean games; in those days doping was not a serious problem. All in all, distantly similar as you have now in China, for all you think the Olympic Games is a national event with long period of rapid development but also hard work to bring China forward.

C: So Beijing Olympic Games will be held soon, could you introduce some competitive sports activities and famous athletes in Finland? Do you have any favorite sports activities? A: We like very much all kinds of sports in Finland, and some of the sports are now very successful unfortunately some are not Olympic disciplines. The best for our country is motor sports, the formula one races. In so far, the Olympic disciplines are concerned, I think our highest hope is javelin throwing, we get the hope to among the best and we even have the hope to get the golden medal. Traditionally, we have been good at long distance running, when I was in my 20th, we were still very good at that and actually we won 4 gold medals in 5000 and 10000 meters. But since then, unfortunately we have lost our advantage. Maybe disciplines like shooting and sailing are also be hopeful for Finland. Ok, I think we should be realistic to our chances, in the past sports are not as popular in big countries as today. For country like Finland we have only 5 million people can not produce so many great athletes.

C: So my last question, as we all know Finland is a beautiful country, many Chinese visitors are quite interested in visiting Finland, could you introduce something to our Chinese visitors and invite them to Finland?

A: I certainly want to invite them all to Finland, lots of them are already come to Finland every year, we have a clean nature, and lots of green forests, tens of thousands of lakes with all these mentioned earlier and different landscapes. The south is different from the north. We have the midnight sun in summer time and we have the never rising sun in the winter time. We have the Santa Claus who bring gifts to kids every Christmas, in fact he is there through out the year, if you want to visit the capital of Lapland province you can always see him in his workshop preparing those gifts he sent in Christmas time. Our cities are small compare to Chinese cities but some of them are beautiful, maybe that is a contrast to what you experience in China. So all in all, there are many things you can experience, worth seeing. Finland is easy to access; we have daily flights from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hongkong. Most of them are direct flights so you can make the trip easily. So you all are welcome to Finland.

C: Thanks for sharing your experience and ideas to our viewers, thanks.

A: Thanks for the interview.

(China.org.cn June 19, 2008)