'Every Finnish person is mad about the Olympics'

Six-time Olympian Kyra Kyrklund discusses competing behind the Iron Curtain, sleeping in the stable and coping when calamity strikes

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IGREW up in Finland and every Finnish person is mad about the Olympic Games. Any Finn who won a medal at the Olympics was more important than the president. The most famous athlete was probably Lasse Virén, a long-distance runner who won four gold medals. That's why when I was young, there wasn't really a sport I didn't do. But I was a bit impatient, so if I didn't become good at something quickly, I stopped.

We had an Olympics in Helsinki in 1952 and I started riding at the riding school set up in the old Olympic stables. It's also where I rented stables and started my business, and I stayed there, in the old Olympic venue, for years.

Moscow was my first Olympic Games in 1980 with Piccolo who, as far as I knew, was the only horse then doing grand prix in Finland. So I knew if Finland could o go send someone to the Games, it'd be me. Riding was still quite small in Finland and I think our last rider to go to the Olympics was in 1952.

The Moscow Games were, of course, boycotted by most of the western world, so there wasn't much competition there. The Russians, of course, wanted to win team gold so they sent horses and trainers to countries like Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary so that they could bring teams to Moscow to compete against the Russians.

For the arena, they'd put sand on a grass field and it was really deep at one end and then not so deep at the other, which made all the horses look a little mediocre.

And there was one grandstand and it was full of spectators, but most were not at all interested in dressage and had been marched there to fill the seats.