Finnish Head Coach Petter Kukkonen publishes his first novel
Aug 27, 2020·Nordic Combined
Petter Kukkonen, head coach of the Finnish Nordic Combined team has accomplished a huge non-Nordic Combined feat: he published his first book, a historical novel titled „Oliivipuut eivät koskaan kuole“, which is taking readers back to Ancient Greece.
Kukkonen’s hero, Alekos of Athens, is born in the third year of the 98th Olympics. Alekos and his half-brother Dionysios grow up listening to stories about Greece’s heroes and their divine feats in the Olympian magazines.
The novel is a story about young Alekos preparing for the Olympics. Sport is the driving force behind the book, but in many parts of Alekos’s story it is supplanted by Greece’s power game with its politicians and warfare. In the course of the book, Alekos visits the great king of Persia and wrestles with Plato. Ancient life comes close to the reader.
The idea and reflective style of the book were sparked by taking a new approach in thinking and reflection on following one’s own sports career. Kukkonen paired this with his own interest in history, religions, the beliefs and customs of ancient civilizations, knowledge, skills, and wanderings — that is, a desire to understand this world, man, and humanity.
“The first lines of the book were written years ago”, Kukkonen says. “Writing seemed a natural way to structure my own thoughts. The idea of coaching and a person has changed a lot in Finland over the past ten years. Coaching has of course been a mirror when writing a novel and also the other way around.”
“It's amazing how progressive sports has been during antiques. Sport was high quality and a lot was known about nutrition for example. There was start money, prize money and statues were erected in honour of athletes. That part is very similar to what we experienced in the 2000s.”
Petter Kukkonen (b. 1981 in Lieksa) is the head coach of the Finnish national team, who, like the protagonist of his novel, is preparing for the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.
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