After a great weekend in the UK, I boarded the flight home to Helsinki last night. After a few moments, the Finnair captain made an announcement, somewhat longer than usual, in Finnish, which was intriguingly followed by a round of applause. When he repeated the announcement in English, I understood why. On board the flight were the winners of the first ever Eurovision Dance Contest, the final of which had been televised on Saturday night. Of course, all the English speaking passengers were also polite enough to applaud Jussi Väänänen & Katja Koukkula from Finland. The UK came in 15th place, only managing to beat Switzerland.Interestingly, my colleagues seemed unaware of their nation's sporting triumph in the Eurovision. Perhaps that word is just too tired after they hosted the eponymous Song Contest earlier this year. They were more aware of Tero Pitkämäki's gold medal in the Javelin at the IAAF World Championships in Japan on Sunday.
As the proud owner of a brand new Finnish ID card, I offer my congratulations to all of my adopted country's athletes this week, whatever their disciplines.
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