Sport in Finland

Sport is considered a national pastime in Finland and many Finns visit different sporting events regularly. Pesäpallo is the national sport of Finland, although the most popular forms of sport in terms of television viewers and media coverage are ice-hockey and Formula One. In spectator attendance, harness racing comes right after ice hockey in popularity.

The most popular recreational sports and activities include floorball, nordic walking, running and skiing.

The sport of athletics has historically been an important part of both Finnish sports history and national identity. Hannes Kolehmainen has been said to "run Finland onto the world map" at the 1912 Summer Olympics, and from the 1920 Summer Olympics to World War II Finland was the second most successful country in athletics, as only the United States managed to collect more Olympic medals. Javelin throw is the only event in which Finland has enjoyed success all the way from the 1900s to this day. Thus, it is currently the most popular athletics event in Finland.

Bandy is played throughout Finland. It was the first team sport with a national Finnish championship. The Bandyliiga is still popular. In 2004, Finland won the Bandy World Championship. The game consists of two teams whose goal is to put a single ball in opposing team's goal to score. The game is played on ice, with both teams on skates. In terms of licensed athletes, it is the second biggest winter sport in the world.Finland's Bandy Association (Finnish: Suomen Jääpalloliitto, Swedish: FinlandsBandyförbund) is the governing body for the sport of bandy in Finland.

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Wikipedia