Matti - "Elämä on ihmisen parasta aikaa" (2006) | "Hell Is For Heroes" (Matti Nykänen film) ENGSUBS

"Matti Nykänen was to ski jumping what Lionel Messi or Diego Maradona are for football. He took the sport to the next level. He was the hero, an idol for generations. Everybody wanted to jump like Matti."

"His structure was excellent, he had very good thrust, and he was persistent, he was childlike, almost like a cherub, and that charmed people."

Nykänen won his first World Championships at the age of 18. At 19 he won the Four Hills Tournament, and at 20 he claimed Olympic gold and silver medals in Sarajevo. In 1988, at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, he became the first man to win all three gold medals in his event.

Matti Nykänen died at his home in Lappeenranta in the early hours of 4 February 2019, from a sudden attack of illness, at the age of 55. He had complained of dizziness and nausea the night before. He had recently been diagnosed with diabetes.

The news of his passing was widely reported by the media both in Finland and abroad, with many tributes also paid to him by fellow ski jumpers of his time. He is survived by three children.
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In 1988 DPR Korea issued a postage stamp depicting Nykänen in the flight during competition.
In 2016, Nykänen was also portrayed in the British biographical sports film about Eddie Edwards; "Eddie the Eagle". The picture is from this well received feature film.