How did Turun Sanomat perceive physical activity and sports as a means of international influence during the Continuation War

Abstract

The press has influenced the establishment of sports culture in Finland. Sports and national defence have supported each other throughout the entire history of independent Finland. As sports policy emerged as an important part of public authority after Finland gained independence, stakeholders in sports were key contributors to safeguarding the country’s independence. Sports promoted the fitness of the army to defend the country, therefore contributing to the nation’s viability.

This article examines how the Turun Sanomat newspaper wrote about sports and physical activity as a means to cultivate international influence during the Continuation War. The research data consisted of issues of Turun Sanomat published during the Continuation War between 25 June 1941 and 19 September 1944. In total, 250 articles concerned with sports and physical activity in the issues published during this period were selected for further analysis.

Turun Sanomat was one of Finland’s most significant and read newspapers during the wars. The liberal line of the newspaper, which adopted nationalist characteristics under the threat of losing independence, is interesting. Factors in favour of using articles published in Turun Sanomat as original data also include their perspective of local history and the geographical framework of the present author’s doctoral study.

Requesting support and aid played a key role in cultivating international influence during the Winter War that preceded the Continuation War. Sport was employed as a tool for this purpose, for instance in the form of the competition tours of Taisto Mäki and Paavo Nurmi to the United States. In addition to running exhibitions, requesting military aid from the United States was on Paavo Nurmi’s agenda. After returning from his tour, Nurmi began to publicly address the issues going on in his homeland; instead of major sporting events, the focus was now on moving Finland’s citizens.

No tours to the United States took place during the Continuation War. Swedes who had achieved hegemonic status in long-distance running – above all Gunder Hägg – were now taking over the world. Indeed, Finland perceived Germany as its comrade-in-arms also in the context of sports, at least up to a point.

During the Continuation War, the means of cultivating international influence became even more restricted; Finland was less involved in international competitions, and the spirit of the Winter War made way for a sense of proportion of sorts. As the war went on, more and more attention shifted to moving the citizens and bringing up the youth of the nation.