Helsinki has a long tradition of
sports, the city gained much of its initial international recognition during the
1952 Summer Olympics, and the city has since then been very open to arranging sporting events. Helsinki hosts fairly successful local teams in both of the most popular team-sports in
Finland,
football and
ice hockey. The later being a sport of passion for many Helsinkians, who usually take a stance for either of the local clubs
HIFK or
Jokerit. The strong culture of ice hockey has led to Helsinki becoming the birthplace of many legendary
National Hockey League stars such as
Teemu Selänne,
Jari Kurri and
Esa Tikkanen.
Although not as popular,
rugby union is also played in the Finnish capital, which is represented by the
Helsinki Rugby Football Club and
Helsinki Warriors.
Olympics and other sporting events
Helsinki was elected host-city of the
1940 Summer Olympics, but due to
World War II they were canceled. Instead Helsinki was the host of the
1952 Summer Olympics. The Olympics were a landmark event symbolically and economically for Helsinki and Finland as a whole that was recovering from the
winter war and the
continuation war fought with the
Soviet Union.
Helsinki was also in
1983 the first ever city to host the
World Championships in Athletics. Helsinki also hosted the event in
2005, thus also becoming the first city to ever host the Championships for a second time.
The
Helsinki City Marathon has been held in the city every year since
1980, usually in August.
A......
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