''Suuret suomalaiset'' (''Great Finns'') was a 2004 television show broadcast in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

by Yle (the Finnish Broadcasting Company), which determined the ''100 greatest

Finns Finns or Finnish people (, ) are a Baltic Finns, Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these cou ...

of all time'' according to the opinions of its viewers. The viewers were able to vote during a programme which lasted from October to December 2004. The show was a Finnish spin-off of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's programme ''Great Britons''.

The list

The winner

During the final stage of voting, people had the chance to vote for the following three leading candidates:

Risto Ryti Risto Heikki Ryti (; 3 February 1889 – 25 October 1956) was a Finnish people, Finnish politician who served as the fifth president of Finland from 1940 to 1944. Ryti started his career as a politician in the field of economics and as a politica ...

, C.G.E. Mannerheim and

Urho Kekkonen Urho Kaleva Kekkonen (; 3 September 1900 – 31 August 1986), often referred to by his initials UKK, was a Finnish politician who served as the eighth and longest-serving president of Finland from 1956 to 1982. He also served as Prime Minister ...

. The winner was

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish military commander, aristocrat, and statesman. He served as the military leader of the White Guard (Finland), Whites in the Finnish Civil War (1918), as List of ...

, a war hero,

Marshal of Finland In the Finnish Defence Forces, Field Marshal (, ) is officially not an active military rank but an honorary rank that can be bestowed upon 'especially distinguished General officer, generals'. So far the only holder of this title has been Baro ...

, and

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Top Ten

# C.G.E. Mannerheim (1867–1951) (

President of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland (; ) is the head of state of Finland. The incumbent president is Alexander Stubb, since 1 March 2024. He was elected president for the first time in 2024 Finnish presidential election, 2024. The presi ...

, 1944–1946, and

) #

(1889–1956) (President of Finland, 1940–1944) #

(1900–1986) (President of Finland, 1956–1982) # Adolf Ehrnrooth (1905–2004) (infantry general, a figurehead for the Finnish veteran community) # Tarja Halonen (1943–) (first female President of Finland, 2000–2012) #

Arvo Ylppö Arvo Henrik Ylppö (27 October 1887 – 28 January 1992) was a Finnish physician and professor of pediatrics who significantly decreased Finnish infant mortality during the 20th century. He is credited as the father of Finland's public ma ...

(1887–1992) (famed pediatrician) # Mikael Agricola (1510–1557) (Protestant reformer and creator of literary

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

) #

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his countr ...

(1865–1957) (world-famous composer of

romantic music Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era (or Romantic period). It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the ...

) #

Aleksis Kivi Aleksis Kivi (; born Alexis Stenvall; 10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872) was a Finnish writer who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, '' Seitsemän veljestä'' (''Seven Brothers''), published in 1870. He is also known ...

(1834–1872) (national author) # Elias Lönnrot (1802–1884) (anthropologist)

Facetious voting and speculation on manipulated results

Everybody in the top ten can be regarded as "serious" candidates, but right after those first ten are a number of candidates that have probably been selected in a more humorous sense. Positions 11–14 are held by: * Position 11, Matti Nykänen (1963–2019) – A four-time Olympic gold medalist who is also known for his later ill-fated careers as a singer and a

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events. Modern forms of stripping m ...

. He is a person loved dearly by the Finnish sensationalist press. * Position 12, Väinö Myllyrinne (1909–1963) – The tallest Finnish person ever. In the

, the words "great", "tall" and "big" can all be expressed with the word ''"suuri"'', which is used in the name of the program. Thus, voting for Myllyrinne was a kind of joke. * Position 13,

Ville Valo Ville Hermanni Valo (; born 22 November 1976) is a Finnish singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the gothic rock band HIM (Finnish band), HIM. Born and raised in Helsinki to a Hungarian mother and Finnish fa ...

(1976–) – The vocalist of the famous Finnish

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band HIM. * Position 14, Lalli – A mythical and possibly

apocrypha Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...

l figure who, according to a medieval legend, killed Bishop Henry in Finland in 1156. After the results were published, much speculation started on the issue of whether Yle had manipulated the results to keep facetious candidates out of the top ten. Yle has condemned the accusations but has refused to publish the number of votes that candidates below top ten received. The person most conspicuously not appearing on the list is the international diplomat and former President of Finland

Martti Ahtisaari Martti Oiva Kalevi Ahtisaari (, 23 June 1937 – 16 October 2023) was a Finnish politician, the tenth president of Finland, from 1994 to 2000, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and a United Nations diplomat and mediation, mediator noted for his inte ...

, who has been a perennial favourite in Finland for the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

, and was finally awarded it in 2008.

Advocates

In broadcast order: # Jari Tervo, (1959–) author, humorist and TV personality from the show ''Uutisvuoto'' ('' Have I Got News For You''); for Arvo Ylppö # Paula Lehtomäki, (1972–) current Minister for Foreign Trade and Development ( Kesk.); for Urho Kekkonen # Pirkko Saisio, (1949–)

Finlandia ''Finlandia'', Op. 26, is a tone poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was written in 1899 and revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the R ...

-winning author; for Mikael Agricola # Kaari Utrio, (1942–) author and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

; for Tarja Halonen # Jukka Virtanen, author, director and actor; for Aleksis Kivi # Lasse Lehtinen, (1947–) author,

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

( PES); for Risto Ryti # Sari Kaasinen, musician in the traditional music band Värttinä; for Elias Lönnrot # Arto Nyberg, (1966–) journalist, TV personality, host of the talk show '' Arto Nyberg''; for Adolf Ehrnrooth # Pekka Kuusisto, (1976–) musician, composer, prize-winning violin player; for Jean Sibelius # Riitta Uosukainen, (1942–) veteran politician ( Kok.), first female Speaker of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral and Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that ...

; for C. G. E. Mannerheim

Other editions

Other countries have produced similar shows; see Greatest Britons spin-offs

References

External links

Suuret suomalaiset
{{Countries' greatest people TV series Greatest Nationals 2004 Finnish television series debuts 2004 Finnish television series endings Finnish television shows Finnish television series based on British television series Lists of Finnish people Yle original programming