According to social commentators, the legendary sports reporter deserved more attention at this year’s Sports Gala.
Tapio Suominen passed away last year at the age of 60. Pete Anikari
The fact that the sports journalist Tapio Suominen, who died last year, was left without special attention at the Sports Gala infuriated social media.
General Secretary of the Sports Gala Riia Martinoja considers the discussion to be a good thing. He reminds us of the problem of highlighting one person.
– Last year we lost an extraordinary number of sports people. We wanted to honor them all with a joint in memoriam section at the Sports Gala. It is regrettably possible that even that left some names exhausted, says Martinoja.
In Martinoja’s opinion, putting one deceased person, even a well-known one, on a pedestal above the others would not have been a reasonable option.
Suominen also once served as the host of the Sports Gala. Even despite this pressure, there was not even a discussion about considering Suominen as his own program number, according to Martinoja, when thinking about the program for the gala.
– Tapio Suomi has been remembered and highlighted by Yle before. In addition, the Association of Sports Journalists remembered Finland at the Sports Gala held in November, where the award candidates for this year’s gala were announced, says Martinoja.
Enter the Hall of Fame
At this year’s gala, a stir was also caused by being selected for the Finnish sports hall of honor Rolf Haikkola election posthumously.
Inter alia Lasse Virénin Haikkola, who worked as a coach, was 96 years old when he died. Virén regretted giving the award to Iltalehte only after Haikkola had died.
– Primarily, of course, it would be important to consider people while they are still with us, says Martinoja.
– But the selection committee for the gallery of honor has a very long list of candidates. A person also does not leave it even if he dies.
There will be choices after death in the future as well. According to Martinoja, only three to five new members will be elected to the gallery of honor in the coming years.
– We want the moment to be a valuable moment and experience for the awardees. I think that with the current number of new members, we can succeed in this. I think the occasion would not be so solemn if, for example, a large number of former athletes were awarded on stage at once.