Accountant Teijo, 42, received a landfill diagnosis – Lost more than 20 kilos and rose to the top of the world

The age group of Finnish track and field athletes in the early 1980s included many top performers: Tero Pitkämäki, Olli-Pekka Karjalainen, Jukka Keskisalo, Tommi Evilä, Antti Ruuskanen, Johanna Manninen and many others brought a lot of excitement to Finns’ home theaters in the early 2000s.

The sports careers of each mentioned have already ended, and the lessons have been passed on to the next generations.

There is one exception. A man who is just now preparing for his first adult competition.

Born in 1980, working as an accountant in Rauma Teijo Köpikkä started his new sports career only months ago, but quickly rose to the top of para-athletics.

While Kööpikä’s peers in, for example, throwing sports have scrapped their bodies and moved to the side, the father of small children from Rauma is just getting up to speed. He’s in his best shot in years.

– Many shot putters and other top athletes my age wouldn’t be able to do this. They’re a piece of junk. But my situation is that even though I’m old, I’m a little used, Kööpikkä laughs.

Kööpikkä does not start from a completely zero situation. Like Olli-Pekka Karjalainen and Johanna Manninen, Kööpikkä, who also played in the boys’ national volleyball team and chose shot put as his main sport as a teenager, was one of Finland’s top prospects in the late 1990s.

Like the duo, Kööpikkä won a medal at the under-20 European Championships in 1999. From Rutger Smith later grew up to be a multiple prize medalist, and Kööpikkä also hoped for the same.

And in Finland it was no small thing to be a shot putter at the turn of the Millennium. Mika Halvari, Timo Aaltonen and Arsi Harju led the group of Finns from the front. Those who pushed more than 20 meters joined the club at the same time Conny Karlsson, Ville Tiisanoja, Tepa Reinikainen, Jarkko Haukijärvi and Jani Illikainen.

Nowadays, the Finnish men’s shot put level is far from its peak years, because with the record of high school student Kööpikä, he would have won last year’s Kaleva Games with a difference of 76 cents.

Kööpikka never made it to the 20-meter club. His record result of 18.84 was created a few years after the EC medal. Then fate intervened.

A mystery disease

Kööpikkä dreamed of the World Championships for adults and representing Finland at the Olympics. In the early 2000s, he had to slow down his training due to stress fractures, but that was a small evil compared to the life-changing event.

In June 2005, Kööpikkä noticed that his left calf was not working properly. The athlete clarified the matter with the doctors, until the following year he received a fine verdict: He had muscular degeneration in his left leg, which meant an immediate end to his sports career.

There was great concern when the doctors could not give Kööpikka an accurate diagnosis and tell how the disease was progressing. The first years passed in a blur.

In the middle of it all, he lost one of his pillars of life. Goal-oriented sports that had been going on for years came to an end on doctor’s orders, and nothing replaced it for a long time. His studies at the University of Applied Sciences stopped at the thesis work and he worked alternately as the executive director of the Sports Club Euran Raiku, a sports coach and a doorman.

An exact diagnosis is still lacking. Kööpikkä describes that he received a “dumping ground diagnosis”, which doesn’t really say anything: other spinal muscular dystrophy.

Now the situation is stable, and the injury doesn’t really show on the outside. He is not allowed to go jogging or to games that shake his legs, but calm walks are fine.

– Almost nothing has happened for 15 years. Basically, it’s progressive, or it’s so rare that I’m not given an accurate diagnosis. It can be anything. There is no answer, whether it is hereditary or bad luck, Kööpikkä reflects.

– A big jump can still come.

Midsummer resolution

Kööpikkä, who is oriented towards competitive sports, kept himself close to sports fields. He coached as an assistant coach in the Volleyball League and as a head coach in the First and Second Divisions.

In addition, he helped the shot putters Kaisa from Kymälä and nephew Timo Köpikkä to collect medals from the Finnish championships.

– In principle, Timo finished 2020, but has participated in the Kaleva Games as a hobby. The level is not very hard. We all hope that he wouldn’t have won medals with those performances, says a grinning Teijo.

The year 2021 was a turning point for the disabled Kööpikka. One night he was watching videos of the Rio 2016 Paralympic shot put and noticed an interesting detail.

– I thought that in my case I would have to have a prosthesis or something like that to get a race classification, but there were people like me pushing.

A spark had ignited.

Kööpikka began to find out the criteria for competition classifications. Earlier, he had been told that he could not compete with para athlete status due to his disability.

– Information came that the rules had changed.

In the fall, he went to the para sports classifier for the first time Paula Leppänen talks and by spring got the green light to think about participating in the paraball in the F57 chair class. In it, the ball is pushed into the sitting pool.

Even last Midsummer, Kööpikkä wondered if it would be worthwhile for him to once again pursue his sports dreams. The choice was locked by a joint decision of the whole family.

Hope for a medal

Midsummer started the education of basic fitness. Age and unsportsmanlike lifestyles had made the man grow a layer of fat, so it wasn’t worth it to immediately train with the program of a national team athlete.

In October, Kööpikkä put a new gear on the eye. The body was once again used to the load and regular training, so next it was time to build a more systematic training program.

Help was offered by Kööpikä’s old friend, Tero Pitkämäki a javelin genius who coached to a world champion Hannu Kangas.

Knowing the fabric is useful, because Kööpikkä describes the chair shot as requiring much the same technique as the javelin throw.

Kangas helps with making a training program and preparing for the competition, but as an experienced athlete, Kööpikkä also knows how to coach himself. A good friend is responsible for assembling the chair and for interim maintenance Kari Tuomi.

– The standard set is two hard training weeks and an easier third week. There are about six workouts a week, the ball man explains.

Needless to say, the pounds came off. Kööpikkä, who is less than two centimeters tall, did not agree to reveal the height of his life. Everyone can try to figure that out for themselves.

– When a person notices what size I am, they can add well over 20 kilos more.

In her first games, Kööpikkä competed in February and immediately set a new Finnish record of 14.23. It was also a tough performance internationally.

In the shot put, the world’s best moves in 14–15 meters, and the result of the opening competition last season would have been the second highest in world statistics.

In May in Jesolo, Italy, Finland’s record was extended to a new figure of 14.53. From Italy, Kööpikkä got a more important bonus, i.e. the right to compete in the World Championships in Paris in July.

The World Championships are the highlight of the season for Kööpikä. After them, the focus will be on the fall 2024 Paris Paralympics.

The Finnish Olympic Committee usually prepares medal expectations for the Olympics and Paralympics based on the performances of Finnish athletes at the international summit. OK set a goal of 4.4 medals for the next Paralympics.

– Liisa Liljan with the discontinuation, the medal forecast for Paris has dropped to 4.4 medals, otherwise the reading is unchanged for this year. New potential athletes have received an international classification during the spring, so it is safe to assume that the forecast will increase during the summer, OK announced in June.

Only Kööpikä’s name was mentioned as Lilja’s potential medal place time, which means that the Raumaian already had big expectations on his shoulders at this stage.

They don’t bother the man. He knows that the results will still improve, and the 15m pushes will get closer as the process continues.

– The clear idea is that the target is the Paralympics in 2024. I have nine months of training behind me for this summer’s World Championships. At the Paralympics there will be fourteen more, so I’ll be in even better shape then.

Kööpikkä received a competition classification this year and, as a new athlete, was left without sports grants. The exercises and the aforementioned trip to Italy had to be paid out of one’s own pocket, but in the Olympic year, Kööpikkä believes that the situation will be different.

The financial difficulties of the Paralympic Committee have not affected the shot putter at all.

One piece of life

In 2005, the news bomb received from the doctor ruined Kööpikä mentally for a long time. Giving up the status of the top promise and the process that lasted for years was not an easy piece for the young man to break.

Now the situation is different, when in addition to sports, the man has other things on his plate. Like, for example, a bump born in March.

– The meaning of sports was different 20 years ago than it is now. I have built this into just one piece of my life. If this is taken out, it won’t hit the same way as the first time.

– Everything is fine now. I am happy.

Kööpikkä managed to finish his studies in business administration and financial administration 21 years after starting.

– Now there is a piece of paper as proof that I have studied the field, the accountant says with a smile.

Kööpikka encourages others in a similar situation to the sports field. The journey of the powerhouse from Laihia to the top of the parakula has been exceptionally fast, but the man himself reminds that the journey has progressed in small steps.

– It is important to be kind to yourself, not to take too big pieces at a time. Does what feels good and sees where it leads. Little by little, the requirement level can be raised higher.

The World Para Athletics Championships start in Paris on Saturday. Kööpikä’s F57 classification shot put is on the program on July 15. The final is pushed to the next day.