Creativity supported boxing and vice versa

Dean of the School of Business Timo Korkeamäki brought his own greetings to the meeting of Aalto Urhea students on 28 November. ‘It's great to see so many of you Aalto athletes again, even though many of you must be busy with a dual career, i.e. combining studies and sport. As few people retire from sport, I take my hat off to each and every one of you who are doing this dual career. I wish you all the best in all aspects of life.’

The alum presentation was given by six-time world boxing champion Eva Wahlström, who is also a graduate of the University of Art and Design (now Aalto University School of Arts and Design).

‘Our parents wanted to love me and my two older brothers for being brave. It gave me a good self-esteem. I knew that they would always support me. I had a good start in life. As a child, we played yard games with my big brothers and their friends forming one team and me alone on the other, getting used to the boys' world from the start. I was very sensitive as a child and suffered from anxiety. I was very sensitive to people's moods and felt that I didn't really fit in.’

‘There were no athletes in my family or among my friends. But my father always encouraged me. My mother, on the other hand, was more worried because I often had black eyes. My father said it was OK, the grandchildren would be beautiful anyway, because black eyes were not in the genes,’ Eva recalls with a laugh.

I fell ill and was very lonely

Eva said that as her career progressed, everything suddenly started to be measured and she started acting like a robot. ‘My father died of cancer and I had other challenges, too. All that was left was boxing, I was really alone. I got sponsors, and I was able to leave my job as a sports instructor behind. I started to feel the fear of failure. At the same time the publicity went crazy, the paparazzi were chasing me.’

‘I lost the ability to walk and stand. A couple of years went by and I came to a pretty important reflection: if I am no longer a boxer, what or who am I? I have to be whole, even if boxing is taken away from me. I applied and got into TaiK (University of Art and Design) on my second attempt. I had always painted and drawn as a kid, and the creative field seemed like a natural direction. My parents also valued education. At the same time, I was pregnant and my first-born son Leon was born.’

Studies also bring creativity to boxing

For fifteen years, Eva went to a mental coach and told him that even though life is full of content: family and art, she still wants to go to the boxing gym. The mental coach supported her return to boxing. 

‘I started training again, and I was able to do everything a little bit better and better. I started to see things creatively in boxing from the study side and boxing also gave me new ideas for art. I made a professional contract and was able to continue my career in Finland, which suited my life situation. I decided with my coach Ripa (Risto Meronen) that through joy, there should be laughter. From my child I learned the art of presence and I even learned to box with my eyes closed.’

‘Eva's performance was truly inspiring’

Twenty people were able to attend the Urhea meeting to hear Eva Wahlström's presentation and meet other Aalto students who are competing in sports. One of them was Tilda Lipasti, a business student, who is majoring in management studies. She started her undergraduate studies in autumn 2019 and is now in her final year of her Master's degree and has just started writing her thesis.

Tilda found Eva's presentation really inspiring. ‘It was particularly encouraging to hear how, after difficult years, you can still rise to the top of your sport when you find the right people, the right ways of doing things and the right joy of doing them. It was also interesting to hear about the importance of a dual career on Eva's athlete's path. Sometimes you hear scaremongering about how studying can interfere with full-time sport, but Eva's presentation showed that the effect can, in the best case, be the opposite. Studying can be a balancing factor and you can also learn valuable lessons through your studies that you can use in sport,’ says Tilda.

Tilda's own sports are the triple jump and long jump. ‘In my own sports-career, I'm just getting back into good shape after a few minor challenges and I'm looking forward to the season ahead. I'm currently in the basic training season and have my sights set on the upcoming indoor and summer season. In the spring, the plan is to head out again for a longer camp in a warm destination to prepare for the summer competition season. My best achievements so far are the women's overall indoor World Championships bronze in the triple jump in 2020, several youth World Championships medals, and in addition to these, a couple of national team appearances.’

The Aalto University Urhea team acts as a link between Aalto, Urhea and students and develops Aalto's practices to enable dual careers for athletes. Aalto's Urhea coordinator is Sami Itani, Professor of Practice at the Department of Management Studies at the School of Business. He and the Urhea coordinators at the Aalto schools can be contacted on a low-threshold basis on all matters related to Urhea.

Text: Terhi Ollikainen