Athlete profile: Jari Isometsä

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

A modern-day renaissance man, Isometsä has managed to balance an increasingly successful cross-country career with endeavors in soccer, roller-skiing, and mountain biking, while also holding a job in Tornio's town council...he plays right midfield and forward for the Arpelan Pallo Sgura club in the Finnish third division..."It (the position he plays) depends on who comes to the games," Isometsä notes. "Everyone in our league has a job so sometimes we will need people at a certain spot"...while many might view Isometsä as overly busy, and lacking focus on cross-country, he finds a congruence between his soccer-playing and cross-country skiing...according to Isometsä, "soccer is very good training. It is boring just running back and forth but you do the same running in soccer and it is still fun. It is also good mentally because you're not always thinking about cross-country"...his soccer league is in action about six months of the year...in the spring and summer, Isometsä roller skis in the mornings four times a week, and has soccer games two to four evenings each week...he describes his town council job as "my prize for Albertville (where a Herculean fourth leg gave Finland the bronze in the 4x10 km relay). I have to help out and make appearances around the town but people understand if I have to train. If they tell me that they want me somewhere, and I say I have to train, then I don't have to do it"...just in case you forgot, Isometsä is in the Olympics for cross-country skiing...since Lillehammer, Isometsä has begun to fulfill the promise he showed long ago, and teams with Mika Myllylä to give Finland a one-two punch that only Norway and Italy can rival...now, Isometsä is looking toward Nagano with high expectations -- "I will be very disappointed if I don't win at least two medals in the next Olympics. At least one individual and one relay"...he has already won two Olympic relay medals as the anchor leg, a role he relishes -- "I really like it (the last leg). It's very nerve-wracking and I do better then"...with his Olympic goals in mind, Isometsä and his personal coach, long-time Finnish cross-country stalwart Harri Kirvesniemi (winner of four Olympic bronze medals over five Olympics), have developed a standardized weekly training regimen for Jari..."I will roller ski in the morning for 2-3 hours when I am not cross-country skiing," says Isometsä. "Then, in the afternoon I will run or play soccer for 1-2 hours. Some days I do mountain biking or lift weights; anything so I don't get bored"...however, Isometsä was extremely disappointed with his results from the 1997 World Championships, and placed part of the blame on his training schedule..."I skied good in the 15 skate (15km freestyle) but otherwise it was bad," Isometsä explains. "I was a little ill two weeks before, maybe that was why. I'm doing something wrong but I don't know what it is. I rested a little afterwards because I thought I might have trained too hard and was tired in the competition"...like most cross-country skiers, Isometsä has his sights set on overcoming Norway's Bjorn Daehlie..."Daehlie has great talent and also good luck," Isometsä points out. "But most importantly, he never skis badly. Even (Vladimir) Smirnov, he can ski bad sometimes"...Isometsä obtained a much-needed confidence boost by defeating Daehlie by 24 seconds in a World Cup race in Lahti, Finland in 1996..."It was definitely my best moment ever. It was my home country and there were lots of people cheering for me. Beating Daehlie and Smirnov was good for all of us"...Jari has been personally molded by Kirvesniemi, who is married to six-time Olympian Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi, since 1989..."When Jari was on the junior team and the B team, he would always come to our training camp and talk to us," says Harri. "His brother (Martti) was his coach and he wanted me to take Jari to the next level. The spring after (I won a gold medal at the 1989 Worlds in Lahti, Finland) I took skiing a little easier and started helping him"...according to Jari, his brother was not involved..."I called him (Harri) and asked him to help me train"...Jari has four older brothers and an older sister, all of whom ski...Martti just missed a national team berth by finishing sixth in the 1980 Finnish Championships...he then coached the junior team until recently when he joined Finland's Coast Guard...another brother, Raimo, has served as Jari's serviceman on the road since 1993..."He (Raimo)has helped me a lot with my skiing," Jari notes. "I don't have time to wax my skis and test my skis so with him there, I can concentrate on skiing alone"...Isometsä's father is a retired bus driver while his mother, who used to work in a factory, is now unemployed...according to Jari, "The economy is not doing so well here and a lot of people are losing their jobs"...Jari's hometown is 100 km (60 miles) north of the Arctic Circle...the town of 22,000 people has sunlight throughout the day during the summer, but lies in near-total darkness in the winter...when asked how he trains in the winter, Isometsä replies, "We have a course with lights near my home. Otherwise, it would be a problem. The training is better in northern Finland because there is more snow here. Many skiers from the South come to northern Finland just to train because there isn't enough snow in the South"...besides soccer, Jari also looks after two race horses, plays golf, and hockey...he is a 17-handicap after only five years of playing golf, and he feels that hockey helps his skating technique...Jari has added yet another weapon to his anti-Daehlie arsenal...he is engaged to Johanna Bjørn, and gleefully points out that, "she has the same last name as Daehlie's first name"...they have a nine-month old son and plan to marry this summer...Isometsä speaks English pretty well -- he says modestly, "I need to practice more"...