Tapani Jarkko Ala-Huikku (born January 31, 1980, in

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; , formerly ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Ostrobothnia. Seinäjoki is located in the western interior of the country and along the Seinäjoki (river), River Seinäjoki. The population of Sein ...

) is an amateur Finnish Greco-Roman wrestler, who played for the men's lightweight category. He won the bronze medal for his division at the 2007 European Wrestling Championships in

Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, and gold at the

2008 European Wrestling Championships The 2008 FILA European Wrestling Championships were held in Tampere, Finland. The event took place from 1 April to 6 April 2008. Medal table Medal summary Men's freestyle Men's Greco-Roman Women's freestyle External linksOfficial website* ...

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

. He is also a member of Ilmajoen Kisailijat Wrestling Club in

Ilmajoki Ilmajoki (; ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. Ilmajoki is a town and municipality situated in Finland's South Ostrobothnia region, founded in 1865. Ilmajoki has a population of 12,165 (28. February 2017)and covers an are ...

, and is coached and trained by Seppo Yli-Hannuksela, the father of two-time Olympic medalist Marko Yli-Hannuksela. At age twenty-eight, Ala-Huikku made his official debut at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, where he competed in the men's 60 kg class. He received a bye for the second preliminary match, before losing out to Kyrgyzstan's Ruslan Tumenbaev, who was able to score seven points in two straight periods, leaving Ala-Huikku with a single point. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Ala-Huikku, however, lost again in the second preliminary match of men's 60 kg class to France's Tarik Belmadani, with a technical score of 0–4. Nowadays Ala-Huikku is working as sport journalist and commentator in Finnish Broadcasting Company

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 ...

References

External links

Profile – International Wrestling DatabaseProfile – Suomen Olympiakomitea

1980 births Living people Olympic wrestlers for Finland Wrestlers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Wrestlers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Seinäjoki Sport wrestlers from South Ostrobothnia Finnish male sport wrestlers 20th-century Finnish people 21st-century Finnish sportsmen {{Finland-wrestling-bio-stub