ABSTRACT
Keywords: Finland, health sciences, KIHU, service, social sciences.
History and background Elite sport is a solid part of Finnish sports culture. Finnish athletes have been very successful in international competitions since the independence in the year of 1917. Finland is still the most successful country in the century-long history of Olympic sports, when the number of medals won by each country is proportioned to the country’s population. Finns have won a total of 135 gold, 123 silver and 155 bronze Olympic medals. To day there are around 3000 Finnish top athletes who compete at national level and 300 to 400 national team athletes who have represented Finland internationally for many years. There are 30 to 40 Finnish international sports stars.
