Nope, it’s not a joke; the Finns love to knit. The Olympics has delivered plenty of amazing moments in its first week — think veteran snowboarder Sean White’s almost perfect run in the mens’ final half-pike competition landing him his 3rd Olympic gold, or 17 year-old Red Gerard beating out many experienced Olympians at his first Olympics in the slopestyle event. And now there’s this surprising moment: a coach from Finland, as he fist-bumped his athletes at the top of the hill before their ski run down the hill, was casually knitting.
Yes, that’s right… knitting. Something with black yarn. In this NBC video, Finnish snowboarding coach, Antti Koskinen, can be seen knitting while Finnish snowboarder, Roope Tonteri, gets set to make his run down the hill. And people wanted to know just what exactly he was knitting:
The Finnish coach is KNITTING at the top of the slopestyle course. Someone please find out what this man is making!!!#PyongChang2018 #snowboard pic.twitter.com/Nr87YBJ2lf
— Shelby-Jai Flick (@ShelbyJaiFlick) February 10, 2018
What makes the scene so striking to many is that Koskinen is so casual about it… he glances up from his work, fist-bumps, Tonteri, and then goes back to knitting. As if it’s something he does every day. And it turns out, it is.
Apparently, Finnish people love to knit, including the men, and when this starting making its way around social media, the Olympic team shared photos to show that knitting is a favorite pastime for all of them. In fact, they’re currently working on a baby blanket for the newborn son of Finland’s president. (Apparently during the Sochi Olympic Games, the team knit a giant scarf.)
We are #knitting again 😀 In Sochi we made a huge scarf, this time we are knitting a blanket for our presidential couple’s newborn son. 💙🇫🇮#olympicteamfi #knittingteamfi #pyeongchang2018 #olympics #olympialaiset #pyeongchangfi pic.twitter.com/mwKLgh1h2j
— Olympic Team Finland (@OlympicTeamFI) February 12, 2018
While it may not be a common for North Americans to see men knitting, it’s not incoming in many parts of the world. In Ethiopia, many men knit, as well as in Peru, just to name a couple places.
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