Panu Oula Jääskeläinen (born 8 March 1969) is a Finnish former competitive figure skater. He is the 1992

Piruetten Piruetten was a senior international figure skating competition held in Hamar, Norway. Medals were awarded in men's singles, ladies' singles, and ice dancing. It later became a junior event held in some years as part of the ISU Junior Grand Prix ...

silver medalist, a two-time Nordic bronze medalist, and a five-time Finnish national champion. He represented Finland at the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

Personal life

Jääskeläinen was born on 8 March 1969 in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

, Finland. His sister, Anu Oksanen (née Jääskeläinen), is the head coach for the

synchronized skating Synchronized skating is an ice skating sport where between 8 to 16 skaters perform together as a team. They move as a flowing unit at high speed over the ice, while performing elements and footwork. This complex sport originated in 1956 and was ...

team

Marigold IceUnity Marigold IceUnity are a senior-level synchronized skating team from Helsinki, Finland, representing the figure skating club Helsingin Luistelijat. Coached by Anu Oksanen and Tiina Turunen, they are five-time ISU World Synchronized Skating Champion ...

, who are multiple world champions.

Career

Jääskeläinen was sent to ten European Championships from 1985 to 1994, achieving his best result, eighth, at the 1993 event in Helsinki. He also competed at nine World Championships and reached his highest placement, 12th, at the 1991 event in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

.Skatabase: 1990s Worlds
Jääskeläinen was selected to represent Finland at the

Albertville Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

and finished 19th. During his career, he trained at the Mariposa School of Skating in

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Jääskeläinen retired from competition in 1994 and then joined an ice show in Blackpool, England. He also appeared on

Strictly Ice Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (informally known as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly ballroom and Latin dance. Each couple is scored by a panel of usually 4 j ...

, partnering with celebrity

Carol Smillie Carol Patricia Smillie (born 23 December 1961) is a Scottish television presenter, actress and former model. Smillie became famous as a presenter on British TV during the 1990s and early 2000s. She was best known for assisting Nicky Campbell on ...

. He began coaching in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, in around 2006 or 2007.

Results

References

External links

Navigation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaaskelainen, Oula Finnish male single skaters Olympic figure skaters of Finland Figure skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Living people 1969 births Sportspeople from Espoo Finnish expatriates in South Africa