Tiia Piili (born April 16, 1979 in Lappeenranta,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

) is a Finnish gymnast who has won the Federation of International Sports, Aerobics and Fitness (FISAF)

sport aerobics Aerobic gymnastics or sport aerobics is a competitive sport originating from traditional aerobics in which complex, high-intensity movement patterns and elements of varying difficulty are performed to music. Nature of the game The performance ...

World Championship four times.Tiia Piili: Career Highlights (1996-2006)

Early life

As a youngster, Piili pursued various sporting interests including

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

rhythmic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, flexible, agile, dexterous and coord ...

, artistic gymnastics and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

. She also played the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and had an interest in music and performance that she manifested as a member of a

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

club and a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

club. Her early interest in sports and music has been cited as a foundation for her future success in sports aerobics.Tiia Piili: Tiia's Story
At age fourteen, after seeing sports aerobic on television for the first time, she became strongly interested in the sport but was barred from participation because of her age. At age sixteen she began training with the goal of competing when she turned eighteen. However, to her fortune a novice category for athletes ages sixteen to eighteen was introduced to the Finnish Championships that very year. Thus Piili was able to compete immediately.

Career

After graduating from secondary school in Lappeenranta, Piili moved to the town of Jyväskylä in Central Finland to train. She won her first World Championship in 2001 at a competition held in Agadir,

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. While in Morocco for that competition, she consumed

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

- tainted food and developed an

infection An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

in her back that impeded her training for a period. She recovered and proceeded to win the 2004 World Championship in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, the 2005 World Championship in

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, and the 2006 World Championship in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In addition to her four World Championships, Piili is a four-time winner of the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an Championship and a five-time winner of the Finnish Championship, and holds a total of fourteen World and European Championship medals. In 2004, as the "most successful representative of Sports Aerobics", Piili was selected as "Aerobic athlete of the year" by the Finnish Sports Federation. She almost won the title of top Finnish athlete overall, but lost to the alpine skier

Tanja Poutiainen Tanja Tuulia Poutiainen (born 6 April 1980) is a retired World Cup alpine ski racer from Finland. She specialized in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom, and was the silver medalist in the women's giant slalom at the 2006 Winter ...

. Piili has appeared twice on the Finnish

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

Kymppitonni Kymppitonni (colloquialism for "kymmenentuhatta" = "ten-thousand") is a Finnish television and radio game show format, created by Spede Pasanen which has been featured on Finnish networks since 1985. The show was hosted by beauty queen Riitta Väis ...

''.Internet Movie Database
/ref> She also did a segment on the Finnish television show ''Fit 4 You'' in which she

kickbike A kickbike (bikeboard, footbike, pedicycle) is a type of kick scooter (also referred to as a push-scooter or scooter) and is a human-powered street vehicle with a handlebar, deck, and wheels propelled by a rider pushing off the ground. The kickb ...

s up

Paloheinä Paloheinä (Swedish Svedängen) is one of four quarters of the Tuomarinkylä district in Northern Helsinki, Finland. Described by the municipality as "a place where habitation, traditional agricultural milieus, and the forest meet", the Palohei ...

hill in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

.Tiia Piili - a Kickbiker!
/ref> She currently still lives in Jyväskylä, Central Finland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piili, Tiia 1979 births Living people People from Lappeenranta Finnish aerobic gymnasts Female aerobic gymnasts Sportspeople from South Karelia