Lauri Antero Johannes Mertaranta (born 17 January 1956 in

Hyvinkää Hyvinkää (; , ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Hyvinkää is situated in the northern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Hyvinkää is approximately . It is the most populous municipality 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, ...

) is a prominent Finnish sportscaster and

TV personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

and former elementary school teacher. Antero Mertaranta is best known for his energetic announcing in

IIHF World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the E ...

ice hockey games, especially when Finland's team are playing. He has announced for every world championship game Finland's 'Lions' have played since 1995. Besides ice hockey Mertaranta has also been announcing football, athletics and

Finnish baseball Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

. Mertaranta himself played Finnish baseball in his youth. In 2001 Mertaranta began hosting a sports quiz show named ''

Se on siinä ''Se on siinä'' (Finnish for "That's it") was a Finnish humorous television sports quiz show shown on Sunday nights on YLE TV2 from 2001 to 2009. It was awarded the '' Venla''-award for the best entertainment program voted by TV-viewers. The ...

'', named after one of his most famous catchphrases: ''Se on siinä!'' (That's it! / That was it! / There it is!). Before his sports reporter career Mertaranta worked as a music teacher and fireman. He plays drums in a band called Anza Mertaranta Allstars. The band planned for an album release in 2005 but is yet to release its debut album.

Highlights

* Announced the Finnish broadcast of

FIFA World Cup 1994 The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

final * Announced the Finnish broadcast of

FIFA World Cup 1998 The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

final * Has announced the Finnish broadcast of

IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey tourn ...

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), first officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics. The IIHF was created in 1908 while the I ...

finals from 1995 and counting in

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

. * Has announced the Finnish broadcast of

finals from 2011 and counting. * Has announced the Finnish broadcast of

finals from 2019 and counting in

C More Sport MTV Urheilu is a Scandinavian pay television sports network owned by MTV Oy. It was launched as the Nordic version of ''Canal+ Sport'' on 1 May 2004, when C More introduced themed channels for movies and sports. On 1 September 2005, most sports ...

and

MTV3 MTV3 (, ) is a Finnish commercial television channel owned and operated by the media company MTV Oy, originally launched on 13 August 1957 as a programming block, becoming its own channel on 1 January 1993. It had the biggest audience share ...

. * Has recorded two smash hit records. Ihanaa Leijonat, Ihanaa (with A-Tyyppi) in 1999 and Pedon Ulvontaa in 2003.

Discography

Albums

*2004: ''Nopea rakastumaan'' (album by Anza Mertaranta Allstars) *2009: ''Jytää, poppia ja rautalankaa'' (album by Anza Mertaranta Allstars)

Singles

*1999: "Ihanaa Leijonat, Ihanaa!" *2010: "Sinistä ja vihreää" (single by Anza Mertaranta Allstars) *2011: "

Taivas varjele! "Taivas varjele!" (English: "''Good heavens!''") is a Finnish language recording by Finnish Hockey Mafia featuring Finnish sports broadcaster and television personality Antero Mertaranta. The hit recording remixing portions of his broadcast comment ...

" (single by Finnish Hockey Mafia feat. Antero Mertaranta) *2019: "Löikö Mörkö sisään?" (single by DJ ILG feat. Antero Mertaranta)

References

External links

New York Times - The Danny Gallivan of Finland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mertaranta, Antero 1956 births People from Hyvinkää Finnish sports broadcasters Living people Finnish television presenters 21st-century Finnish educators