In the first episode of the second season of Iltalehti’s Kovin paiksa podcast, Jari “Bull” Mentula talks about his life more openly than ever.
A bodybuilding legend Jari “Bull” Mentula was diagnosed with severe heart failure at the end of 2019. The doctor gave a life expectancy of 1–3 years.
– It’s quite a slap in the face, Mentula recalls In the Kovin pakka podcast.
Mentula was only 43 years old when he was diagnosed. He remembers well the moment when he walked from the doctor to his car and called his wife, as he had promised before the trip to the doctor.
– I couldn’t say anything. I just said I would go to the pharmacy and come home.
Jari “Bull” Mentula talked about the doctor’s shocking diagnosis in Iltalehti’s Kovin paiksa podcast. Elle Laitila
After the diagnosis, he was not allowed to do anything strenuous, but Mentula’s own mother’s funeral was ahead, where the man had to carry the coffin in the front row.
– We changed the order so that I was in the middle as a carrier.
While sitting on the church pew, Mentula thought about her own sons, who were only a little over six months old and a little over two years old at the time.
– I thought that it could be here for a long time, that the guys would be able to carry me. And it’s one of my dreams that we’ve been waiting so long for it to come true, Mentula says on the podcast.
In honor of the turn of the year, Iltalehti publishes memorable sports stories of the year. Jari Mentula’s story has been published for the first time on September 30, 2025.