IAAF General Secretary Istvan Gyulai welcomes Kuortane Director Tapio Korjus to the IAAF HQ in Monaco (© IAAF)
The Kuortane Sport Institute in Finland has become the latest world class coaching facility to be added to IAAF’s growing network of Accredited Training Centres (ATCs) which now numbers 13 facilities across Europe, as the IAAF pursues a policy of establishing a worldwide ATC network.
The IAAF system for Accreditation of Training Centres (ATC) has been developed in response to the growing demand for information about appropriate training centres, assisting National Federations, Athletes and Coaches to make the right decisions regarding the suitability of a centre to meet their specific needs and requirements.
Kuortane lies towards the western coast of Finland, equally distant (some 330km) from the capital Helsinki in the south and the city of Oulu in the north of the country. Not surprisingly in the land of javelin throwing, the centre specialises in the four throwing events, with world class coaching experts and facilities also offered for the Pole Vault, High Jump and Combined Events.
The centre’s track which plays host to a quality international meeting every midsummer can also boast some impressive statistics with the second and fifth longest throwers of all-time, Aki Parviainen (FIN – 93.09m PB) and Kostadinos Gatsioudis (GRE – 91.69m PB) both having registered their best ever throws on the stadium’s runway in 1999 and 2000 respectively.
The coaching staff list also parades an Olympic champion, as the centre’s Director Tapio Korjus is the 1988 Olympic Javelin champion. Korjus visited the IAAF’s Headquarters in Monaco this week to sign the final ATC agreement and to meet with General Secretary Istvan Gyulai and Member Services Department Director Elio Locatelli.
Among the many other coaching experts at the centre are Jarmo Mäkelä (Combined Events) who is the Finnish Federation's head technical coach, and Arto Rinta-Aho (Hammer) who is the trainer of Olli-Pekka Karjalainen, the 2004 IAAF World Athletics Final winner in the men’s Hammer Throw.
Already in this the first week of its accreditation as an IAAF training centre Kuortane is preparing to welcome its first two IAAF scholarship students. These are Ange Doris Ratsimbazafy, a young women’s hammer thrower from Madagascar who wishes to become a coach herself as well as advancing her own athletics career, and Bergur Ingi Petursson of Iceland who is also a hammer throwing exponent. Both will arrive at the institute at the beginning of February, with Ratsimbazafy staying until the end of April, and Petursson who hopes to compete in the European Junior Championships, remaining at the ATC until July.
Click her for more information about the IAAF ATC in Kuortane
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