Matti Nykänen

Matti Nykänen
Nykänen in 2014
Country	Finland
Full name	Matti Ensio Nykänen
Born	(1963-07-17) 17 July 1963 (age 53) Jyväskylä, Finland
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Personal best	191 m (627 ft) Planica, 15 March 1985
World Cup career
Seasons	1981–1991
Individual wins	46
Indiv. podiums	76
Yellow bibs	62
Indiv. starts	143
Overall titles	4 (1983, 1985, 1986, 1988)
Four Hills titles	2 (1983, 1988)
Medal record Men's ski jumping Olympic Games 1984 Sarajevo Individual NH 1988 Calgary Individual NH 1988 Calgary Individual LH 1988 Calgary Team LH 1984 Sarajevo Individual LH Ski Jumping World Championships 1982 Oslo Individual LH 1984 Engelberg Team LH 1985 Seefeld Team LH 1987 Oberstdorf Team LH 1989 Lahti Team LH 1987 Oberstdorf Individual NH 1982 Oslo Team LH 1985 Seefeld Individual LH 1989 Lahti Individual LH Men's ski flying Ski Flying World Championships 1985 Planica Individual 1990 Vikersund Individual 1983 Harrachov Individual 1986 Bad Mitterndorf Individual 1988 Oberstdorf Individual
Updated on 10 February 2016.

Matti Ensio Nykänen ( pronunciation ) (born 17 July 1963) is a Finnish former ski jumper who competed from 1981 to 1991. Widely considered to be the greatest male ski jumper of all time, Nykänen won five Winter Olympic medals (four gold), nine World Championship medals (five gold) and 22 Finnish Championship medals (13 gold). Most notably, he won three gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics, becoming, along with Yvonne van Gennip of the Netherlands, the most successful athlete at that event. Nykänen is the only ski jumper in history to have won all five of the sport's major events: a gold medal at the Winter Olympics (three times), the Ski Jumping World Championships (once), the Ski Flying World Championships (once), four World Cup titles, and the Four Hills Tournament (twice). His four World Cup titles is an all-time record shared with Adam Małysz and Sara Takanashi.

Since the 1990s, Nykänen's status as a celebrity has mainly been fueled by his colourful personal relationships, his career as a pop singer, and various incidents often related to heavy use of alcohol and violent behavior. He was sentenced to jail for 26 months following a stabbing incident in 2004, and again for 16 months after aggravated assault on his wife in 2009.