Tweet
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Finns gathered in the capital Helsinki on Monday to celebrate their first gold medal in world ice hockey in 16 years, a victory that lifted a national mood darkened by political clashes in the past month.
Fans waved flags and cheered "Finland, Finland, yeah!" as the men's national team players appeared in the city's market square in an open-top bus.
Up to 70,000 people joined the celebrations, according to public broadcaster YLE, a rare crowd for a country of 5 million.
Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Finland and the latest victory was all the more sweeter since the final win was over Sweden, which ruled the country until the early 1800s.
The Finns beat the Swedes 6-1 in the IHF World Hockey Championship on Sunday in Bratislava.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time," said Harri Flyktman, standing in Helsinki's Esplanadi park with his wife and two children. "The boost for the general mood will probably last until next year's world championships."
Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb earlier joined in the revelry on Twitter. "These are big moments in a life of a sports fanatic with ice hockey flowing in his veins," he wrote.
Stubb's National Coalition party won elections in April, but has struggled to form a government due to disagreements over helping out debt-burdened Portugal. The eurosceptic True Finns left government talks last week.
(Reporting by Terhi Kinnunen, Writing by Ritsuko Ando)
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials
Fans waved flags and cheered "Finland, Finland, yeah!" as the men's national team players appeared in the city's market square in an open-top bus.
Up to 70,000 people joined the celebrations, according to public broadcaster YLE, a rare crowd for a country of 5 million.
Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Finland and the latest victory was all the more sweeter since the final win was over Sweden, which ruled the country until the early 1800s.
The Finns beat the Swedes 6-1 in the IHF World Hockey Championship on Sunday in Bratislava.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time," said Harri Flyktman, standing in Helsinki's Esplanadi park with his wife and two children. "The boost for the general mood will probably last until next year's world championships."
Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb earlier joined in the revelry on Twitter. "These are big moments in a life of a sports fanatic with ice hockey flowing in his veins," he wrote.
Stubb's National Coalition party won elections in April, but has struggled to form a government due to disagreements over helping out debt-burdened Portugal. The eurosceptic True Finns left government talks last week.
(Reporting by Terhi Kinnunen, Writing by Ritsuko Ando)
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials
