Getting to the Olympics is an achievement in itself (original) (raw)

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Oskar Kirmes was the first Finnish male gymnast to get to the Olympics in 44 years. He made his bow in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday night with a superb performance.

Oskar Kirmes Image: AOP

8.8.2016 7:00Updated 7.8.2016 19:51

For some Olympians only the gold medal will do. For others, just getting to the games is an achievement in itself.

Oskar Kirmes, 20, falls into the latter category.

His performance at the Rio Olympic gymnastics qualifiers on the weekend was excellent, but he neither got the points he'd hoped for nor the ones he needed to stay in the competition.

In particular, his floor routine secured enough points that he placed 19th, placing him in the world's top 20.

But his all-around points total was not quite enough for a place in the finals. He ended up 35th in the rankings with only the top 24 making it through to the next stage.

"My first Olympics were an amazing experience," said Kirmes in Rio. "It's been a long season, so I'm going to have a holiday before heading back to the gym to train hard for Tokyo."

The Tokyo Summer Olympics take place in 2020.

Born into a flexible family

Kirmes was born in Reykjavik to a Swedish mother and an Estonian father.

He comes from a sports-oriented family -- his father Mati is his coach -- who live in Espoo.

According to FIG, the international governing body of gymnastics, Oskar's father Mati Kirmes represented the Soviet Union internationally in gymnastics (when Estonia was under Soviet rule) and his mother Lina represented Sweden. His younger brother Robert has represented Finland in gymnastics at the junior level.

In a 2013 interview with International Gymnast magazine, Kirmes talked about his family's move from Sweden to Finland when he was 12 years old.

"It was very difficult to learn the language... After a time I started to like it very much and the trainings were going really well. I decided that I wanted to compete for Finland because I live here, they have a stronger team and they go to more international competitions to get better experience," he told the magazine.

According to the magazine, shortly after Kirmes received Finnish citizenship in 2013, he won the all-around title at the Finnish championships, where he also took two gold and two bronze medals in the apparatus finals. And a week later he placed fourth all-around at the Dityatin Cup in St. Petersburg, where he scored a personal best all-around total.