100-meter SE woman Helinä Marjamaa, 67, talked about her record-breaking run and her life after her sports career.
– In the warm-up, it was agreed that today we will run records. I guess I ran, but the others didn’t, Hläna Marjamaa (b Laihorinne) laughs.
40 years ago in Lahti, he sprinted 100 meters with a time of 11.13. It is still a valid Finnish record for women’s 100 meters.
– I remember that there was a little difficulty at the start, but then I got up to speed. It felt like it just got faster and faster and faster, Marjamaa recalls.
When the rest of the time was clear at the finish line, the woman was overcome by an empty feeling.
– When the run goes really well, you don’t really remember anything about it.
An important ending
Marjamaa is remembered as an excellent leaver. In training, however, he focused on the final phase of the run, which was often a problem for Finns: the pace froze.
– Whether I ran slowly or fast, I always tried to speed up even a little towards the end. Then I got the right kind of image and feeling.
The excellent finish was the secret of the record-breaking run.
– It was incredibly successful.
Marjamaa also did imagery training once a week, which was not yet very common among athletes at that time.
– I was imagining a tough race, which I always won. At 60 meters, my running always went higher and higher than before and my arms worked more efficiently.
The speed and technique eventually moved to the real races as well.
– It may be hard to believe, but you can train an awful lot with your mind. I also corrected technical errors with mental imagery training. It should be used more even today, Marjamaa sees.
The story continues after the picture.
Helinä Marjamaa still holds the Finnish record for 100 meters. Joona Rissanen
All off
Marjamaa finished 100th and sixth in the 1983 World Championships. He is still the only Finnish sprinter who has appeared in the World Championship final.
One of Marjamaa’s strengths was that she was able to foreclose on almost everything about her physical characteristics. It is not a given.
– The strength that is being trained must also be brought out. It’s no use having an impossible amount of power if you only know how to use a fraction of it.
Marjamaa was at her best only at the end of her career, when she started designing her own training programs. She found her late trainer husband Tapio Marjamaan with the relaxation familiar from youth, which helped to get more out of the body.
– Speed running is quite simple: keep the running high and relaxed – and then just go hard.
0.01
0.01 seconds. That was the small margin with which Marjamaa made it to the World Cup final in 1983.
– It was great to run in the final of the home games. I remember it, it was something completely insane. There was no such thing in any other games, says Marjamaa.
The sixth place in the final came with a time of 11.24.
– There was a headwind, so the weather was quite good, Marjamaa recalls.
A year later, the hundredths turned the other way around, when Marjamaa was left out of the 100-meter Olympic final in Los Angeles by 0.01 seconds.
– It was a bitter defeat.
Marjamaa hit the nail on the head shortly after the Losi Games in 1984. She was 28 years old at the time.
Coaching
After her active career, the SE woman continued working in sprinting.
– I was a coach for a long time after I quit. Among other things, I coached Hanna-Maari Latvala (now Hanna-Maari Päkk) when he lived in Kokkola.
Latvala won 11 WC golds in his career before he stopped due to a leg injury.
Marjamaa also coached her own children, but stopped coaching when her own children grew older.
– You can get to the top in many different ways. You don’t have to train like I do. You have to trust and believe in what you are doing. That is the most important thing of all, Marjamaa reflects.
At the moment, Finnish sprinting looks promising, according to Marjamaa. On the men’s side Samuli Samuelsson just did a new 100m SE 10.16.
When will the women’s 100m Finnish record be broken?
– Let’s hope that someone breaks it soon, because records are made to be broken.
Manager
In 1986, Marjamaa graduated from the University of Jyväskylä with a master’s degree in philosophy, majoring in chemistry. Since then, he has created a handsome career in various fields.
– I have done supervisor and management work for 30 years. First I managed laboratories, then I ran a large unit in the maintenance sector in Ostrobothnia as a business director. The last time I worked as an administrative director in the parish union, Marjamaa lists.
He has also been a decision-maker in the council of the welfare area and the inspection board.
– And next autumn I will start on the board of a health care joint-stock company.
Marjamaa has also completed an MBA degree and a CEO degree. In addition, he has studied to become a wellness coach.
– I like to talk about self-management. I have lectured on it quite a bit. After all, all of life is self-management.
“You have to move”
Marjamaa, who has lived in Kokkola since 1996, has been retired for the past two years.
– My husband and I live here alone. Two children have already flown away from home and live in Helsinki, says Marjamaa.
An active retiree’s summer is spent in cabins, family parties and hiking trips, among other things. Below is just a four-day hiking trip in Central Finland.
– There will be walking in the summer and skiing in the winter. I got a new hip in November and after that I skied 400 kilometers.
After all, the sporty lady doesn’t do sprints anymore.
– Not really, Marjamaa laughs.
– I don’t run at all, but I have to move. I encourage all people to move.
On Tuesday, Marjamaa was at the Olympic Stadium reminiscing about the World Cup 40 years ago. Joona Rissanen