(Courtesy of Mats Åkerlind)
Legendary Swedish Jumping Coach Viljo Nousianinen passed away on Saturday in his home in Gothenburg. He was only 54. Viljo Nousiainen was best known as the coach and step father of Patrik Sjöberg. Through Patrik, he became internationally famous, with World Records, World Championship Golds etc.
Himself a good high jumper (2.06 in 1974), Viljo was the perfect "on the floor"
coach. He always saw the potentials and the weak points in his athletes, and developed
them in a most remarkable way, with individual variation in the training for every
athlete. Besides Patrik Sjöberg, he coached a number of jumpers who made the national
team and also the international scene. During the last year he had, among many other
engagements, worked as mentor to high jumper Stefan Holm (2.33 in 1998) and during the
last weeks he amazed the Swedish scene by in 3-4 months taking 18 year old Christian
Olsson from 14.68 in the TJ up to 16.27.