Veera Mattila had to exchange medals with a Greek runner.
Veera Mattila was in a festive spirit, even though she had the wrong medal around her neck. Anni Saarela
Sensationally ran the 800-meter EC silver Veera Mattila was the victim of a nasty blunder at the prize distribution of the under-23-year-old games in Espoo.
Instead of a silver medal, a bronze medal was strung around Mattila’s neck.
– I was surprised that it doesn’t look very silvery! Mattila was sulking after the award ceremony.
– I didn’t bother to say anything.
The situation was quickly rectified. After the ceremony, the medals changed hands.
– When we went backstage, the administrator there said that you should exchange the medals with each other. We changed then, Mattila said.
Mattila’s medal was initially won by a bronze woman Georgia-Maria Despollari.
– He hadn’t noticed anything until we started changing.
According to the Finnish runner, the bronze medal did not compare to the silver one.
– It wasn’t as great as this. I looked at it and it looked a little rusty. This is better.
The award committee’s blunder did not diminish the value of the opportunity in Mattila’s mind. He was one smile.
– It didn’t bother me at all, there was such good encouragement here, the medalist said in the darkening Espoo evening.
Modified on 15.7. at 00:16: Corrected name errors from Mattila.