from EEVA magazine text by Anu Kylvén, Photos by Sakari Majantie
“Come and get me, my legs don’t carry me”
Kiira Korpi has just arrived from a holiday trip in Nice, where she went with her good friend, her sister and her sister’s boyfriend. She has still one week of holiday left in July, and the practising schedule for the Midsummer week was also eased down. The life of a professional athlete doesn’t seem to be so disciplined after all. But Kiira points out that summer is the time for basic conditioning for figure skaters. In July Kiira will visit the Olympic city Vancouver, where she will stay for 3 weeks. She will be joined by fellow athletes Laura Lepistö, Susanna Pöykiö and Jenni Vähämaa.
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Hi guys and ladies, The comment system seems out of order now… I’m sorry but I don’t know the reason. I just tried to add a new comment by myself but no comments can be submitted even logged in as admin. I’ll install another simple forum system to our site hopefully in few days. Then I’ll try to re-build the whole system and move all articles to another server hopefully before the new season starts… Any help except money would be appreciated.
Kiira was a guest on YLE’sSummeri live television show on Tuesday 16th of June 2009. Summeri is an annual summer show targeted for children and teenagers which airs live every weekday during summer at 10:35 AM Finnish local time from Helsinki Swimming Stadium. The guest list for whole summer can be found here. The episode can be seen from Yle Areena until 23rd of June 2009.
The original article is published in Iltalehti on 16.5.2009. Text by Hilkka Tienhaara / photos by Sampo Rautamaa.
Here is the whole translation of last weekend’s Iltalehti article. I’m sorry for the mistakes :) I also translated little boxes next to the main article.
Even walking was hard
Figure skater Kiira Korpi learned to appreciate things in a different way when she suddenly couldn’t take for granted the main meaning of her life.
European figure skating championships, ladies free skating at the full Hartwall-arena in the end of January. Kiira Korpi is concentrating to her first jump when her skates suddenly hits themselves. She fells down and crashes very fast to the board.
The whole crowd sighs and thousands of Finnish flags go down but Kiira gets up. She holds her hips, bites her lip and limps to talk to the referee who gives her three minutes time to go on.
Kiira decides to go on. The first lutz is limbo but after that we see the fighter on the ice. Triple salchow - douple toe loop is excellent and gorgeus step sequence gets the audience to ecstatic cheering. After ending her program Kiira thanks and leaves the ice.
It has gone for four months from this dramatic falling. Kiira goes back to those black moments and says that the blades of skates just hit together and after that there was nothing to do. “Human accident. Probably I was circling in too deep edge” She says and admittes to afraid the worst a few seconds. “My hips and knee were hurt but luckily I didn’t hit my head. I have a bad experience of that six years ago. I fell down very badly in Vierumäki in a test skating and hit my head to the board so badly that I got a concussion.”
It was still quite close in EC that Kiira didn’t collapse and start to cry only because of the shock. The couch rescued the situation and said calmly that now we have a little resting break but soon we’ll continue.
Figure skating star Sasha Cohen revealed she has informed U.S. Figure
Skating she would accept their invitation to Skate America next fall, a
move that confirms she will come back to competition in an attempt to
make the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
This will make the Olympic year more interesting for figure skating fans.
Once again, just like last year, the organization of advertisers in Finland did a survey of sponsorship business in Finland among their member companies. Kiira was the most valued target for sponsorship for the second year in a row. In overall sports went down in popularity, but ice hockey and Kiira Korpi were among the more popular ones. Kiira was the only single person who was specifically named by the members. The other popular targets were music festivals and the modern art gallery in Helsinki.
Early article published in a weekly magazine “Apu” (2003, April 4th)
Kiira Korpi wants to make it on her own
Figure skating prospect
Kiira Korpi, 14, is doing the spins in the big rink of Hakametsä Ice Hall, famous for its ice hockey. The skill and grace of the young figure skater fills the hall even if the stands are empty during the training.
Kiira, 164 cm and 52 kg, enjoys her skating.
- My size is quite right for this sport. The bigger you are, of course the more impressive you look, but if you are smaller, you can better control yourself and your movements, Kiira says.
At the same time, standing on the familiar team bench in his former place of employment, there is Rauno Korpi. He is watching her daughter’s art, but glances a couple of times also at the ceiling of the ice hall. There hangs the championship flags of Tampere hockey clubs. Korpi’s and Tappara’s championship in 1988 has remained the last one until this spring. That third consecutive year of Tappara’s championship saw also the birth of daughter to the Korpi family, Kiira, who already has grown to be Nordic Champion in her sport. Also in this season she entered first time onto the World Championship level ice in Czech Republic. She finished 7th in her group, even when her oldest rivals were already 18 years of age.
The Finnish commercial television channel MTV3 has been airing a four part documentary, called “Behind the brand”, about history of Finnish advertisement on TV. This time the program was about Valio. There was a short section of sports sponsorship, and Kiira was mentioned as an example. The clip also featured a short interview of Kiira.
Last summer Kiira was said to be the single most valuable sponsorship target in Finland. They announced that the sponsorship deal will continue until at least 2010.
Kiira took part in a figure skating show in a town Rauma, here in Finland, last Sunday. There were two identical shows on 1PM and 5PM, lasting 2 hours each. Kiira performed the Abba-medley and the “Butterfly” as in the gala of this year’s European Championships, only this time she was accompanied for a while by little skater “butterflies” from the local, organising figure skating club from Rauma. I am currently uploading the videos on YouTube. Just click on the link at the end and you’ll find them. I am still not much of a videographer, but what can you do… There will be both Kiira’s solo skates + a portion of her and Laura with kids doing the “I like to move it move it!” … and then both Laura’s solo skates and one of Susanna’s (maybe I will upload her other one, too, but with that one I did really bad video work, losing her twice from camere etc…)
Also performing in this show were and dozens and dozens of local junior skaters - the youngest being 3 years old I guess.
The event took place in hall that takes about 5000 spectators for a hockey game, if we count the standing places, too. There were perhaps a bit over 2000 spectators for this event: the main stand were full on both shows and there were also some people on both end stands.
It was a nice experience, and a treat to see all these stars (as in “Stars on Ice” shows in the USA) performing in this same event, and each with two solo skates and little bit in combined performances as well. The image here is the cover of the program booklet for this show.
The videos are and will be here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Roikale95 (I also recently uploaded of Kiira’s visit in a Finnish children’s program from April 2006, in case you haven’t noticed - with English subtitles)
Kiira Korpi is known as one of the most beautyfull figure-scater in the world, sex symbol of the world`s ice rink. But in everyday life this tiny blonde, who looks like young Grace Kelly, acts modestly. And when fashion-assistents lay in front of her fashion-branded dresses for photosession, she admiringly but with caution takes her look at Dior shoes.
-It is the first time I wear high-heeled shoes! Andrei, if people in Tampere saw me wearing this shoes, they would call ambulance!
-That`s right! -I`m laughing. -It`s necessary to take care of the major adornment of finnish team on the next World Champs (22 December in Los-Angeles). [idiot, he doesn`t know, that she is not going to participate in world hamps. “rattling off the salt on the wound” - as russians say]
-In fact, there no places to wear such a beauty.Maybe only to the Mummydolls museum or to the University. But I won`t be able to right in time for the lectures in these shoes.
Her every day is planned to the minutes. She wakes up at 6 am, then she has a training on the rink, then she goes to study (Kiira studies Economics), then she has gymnastics and choreography, then she goes to the ice again. What is more, this 20-year old “athlete, beauty, komsomolka"* is the face of Valio. When on her second day in Moscow we were having a breakfast in “Ararat Park Hyatt”, she saw Valio joghurts and this extraordinary girl sterted telling me about it`s influence to the body, stating latest scientists researches as examples.
*quote from old russian film
-Well, as it says in one our song, planes are the first for you**. But what about relationships with guys? - i ask her with deep-kept hope
**planes firstly, girls - secondly - that`s how it goes in that russian song
-I had a beautyfull lovestory. But now my heart is free.
(in finnish media her ex-boyfriend is believed to be silver medalists of Freestyle World Champs)
-Russian figure-scaters will be happy about this fact!
-I know Yagudin, Plyuschenko and Urmanov well. They are real ice kings.
-I read that your father was dreaming about different sport-career for you.
-My father, Rauno Korpi - is famous finnish ice-hockey player. Now he is the coach of our Lady`s National Team. But my older sister Petra and my friends were scating, that`s why I choosed figure scates to hockey, despite my great hockey future, which they predicted.
Showing her the billboards in front of the hotel windows:
-Do you like Tatyana Navka`s photosession?
She is gazing at the picture of famous scater:
-Oh! It`s even hard to identify her here!
Then our conversation is interrupted by the telephone call.
-Excuse me! - she is looking as admiringly as yesterday she looked at Dior shoes. -My friends wrote to me that according APA Andrei Malakhov and singer Alsu will present Eurovision semifinals. Such a popular man is interviewing me?! Wow!
-Could you please let me have a call to find details? -I`m asking the Ice Princess. -This news is surprise for me!
-Sure! -she laughts. -You have planes as the first too!
Something like that, guys. I`m not the best translater, but I think this can help you to uderstand what Malakhov wrote. Here are also 2 photos (one is new and the second I can`t remember seeing):
Yesterday Kiira was participating in the talkshow called “Let`em talk”. It is one of the worst shows on whole russian tv, as it is usually telling us stories about private life of russians (some stories are wrote by the authors of this show, i think). There are usuaaly “star-guests” there, who are discussing with heroes and Andrei Malakhov (the leading of this show and the worst “journalist” russian mass-media has ever seen).
But, as you know, lots of people like this shows, so it is rather popular by russians. Hovewer, I can`t figure out, how they could persuade Kiira to appear there?! [by the way, was she in Moscow only because of this show?!] O_o I think she didn`t know what this show really is. So, you can see this video (the short cut where Kiira appears):
The issue of this show was something like “transgender people”. The main story was about a girl who don`t like her body and she wan`t to change her gender. Is it neccessairy to discuss such things on tv? Look at Kiira`s face! I think she was shocked. I`m afraid that she can even think that all russian`s are like heroes of this nasty show(
But Malakhov isn`t satysfied by one show - he is also writing a blog, where he wrote a post about Kiira. there is a kind of short interview:
http://andreym.wday.ru/blog/4201/
Tomorrow I will translate it fir you, my friends, so wait for update.
Well, what’s happened with her free skating? …even though she got a medal.
I’ll try to anazlyze her skating. First of all, let’s compare FS elemental scores from the latest 3 competitions. This table tells something. (updated with each scores)
feed
RSS feed
would be appreciated. 
There will be both Kiira’s solo skates + a portion of her and Laura with kids doing the “I like to move it move it!” 
