Pia Sundstedt

That was an interesting day! I started the day with a morning run and had a late breakfast. The meeting with some of the best Finnish women summer athletes was called together by the National Olympic comittee. We were supposed to ventilate some questions, tell each other about our experiences and most important learn from each other.
One of our best swimmers Hanna-Maria Seppälä was the only athlete I knew from before. We were both at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. Two rowers (Ulla Varvio and Minna Nieminen) and two paddlers (Jenni Mikkonen and Anne Rikala) made our group complete.
We have all one thing in common, we have worked hard and long to achieve all we have achieved until now. A funny thing was also that almost all of us have been doing their sports for 22 years.
You might wonder why such a meeting was organized? It is very simple. We all represent individual sports and the sports we represent are quite small, seen from a Finland-perspective.
It has not always been easy to get any support from our national federations. They do their best, but their resources are limited.
I started to walk my own road 20 years ago when I decided that I want to become one of the best cyclists in the world. I am still on that road and I have now spent about 15 years abroad. It has been a long school and it has still not come to an end. I have learned a lot and I can still learn a lot. The difference from my early days as a cyclist is that I can now share my experience to other young athletes. 15 years  ago I was in that position and one great athlete I learned a lot from was Catherine Marsal. A great french athlete with an amazing palmares.
The day today gave me a lot. Now I am loaded with a lot of positive energy and so eager to continue my training towards London.