Marjo Matikainen-Kallström

Marjo Tuulevi Matikainen-Kallström, born on 3 February 1965, is a Finnish former politician and cross-country skier whose sporting career was short but successful. In the six seasons she competed at the top international level she won the World Cup three years in a row. She took a relay bronze at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo aged just 19, and four years later in Calgary she won bronze in the 10 km, gold in the 5 km after trailing until the last kilometre, and another bronze in the relay, four Olympic medals in all. She won three world championship golds, and in 1988 she was the first winner of the women's 30 km at the Holmenkollen ski festival. She quit competition at 24 to study and enter politics for the National Coalition Party, serving in the European Parliament from 1996 to 2004 and in the Finnish Parliament from 2004 to 2015.