13.05.09

Villi Haapasalo: I like to live and work in Russsia

The honorable inhabitant of Novosibirsk, the three times Olympic gold winner, the Russian Hero Aleksander  Karelin becomes one of the participants of the joint Russian-Finnish project “Across Russia”.

This project has been taken up by the studio for documentary films “First Cinema” (Moscow) and by the Finnish television station “Aitomedia”. The contents of this documentary about Russia included the participation of Aleksander Karelin and it was filmed on location in Novosibirsk, at the “Dinamo” sport complex which is Karelin’s regular training place. This training was held in the school for Greco-Roman wrestling led by the honorable coach of the former USSR Viktor Kusnetsov.       
More details about this project were given to us by the famous Finnish actor Villy Haaposalo (the main actor in the film “The special ways of National Hunting”): “The purpose of this project is to show various aspects of life in modern Russia.  Parts of the documentary were filmed on a train as it travelled along the TransSiberian railway going through 8 cities during the journey. Along the way, there were meetings with  several interesting people. The film will first be shown in Finland and then in other European countries. We would like to have people from different countries getting to know more about your amazing country. It is not a secret that many people still think that bears roam the streets of Russia. We would like to show people that this is not so.”

- Why does Aleksander Karelin become  one of the heroes in the film?
“Aleksander Karelin is a very famous person and is well known in the Scandinavian and European countries. In Finland he is known as one of the greatest sportsmen in the world of modern sports. However Karelin is not only the most honored wrestler but he is also famous for his public activities. We also got to know more about the Karelin Fund, the way in which Russian children are brought up and which examples and methods are used.   
We were impressed when we saw a sports-hall full of boys having a training session. One could easily notice how much these young sportsmen respect their coaches and their famous hero Aleksander Karelin. Sport is very popular in Novosibirsk. So far, Karelin is the sportsman with the biggest number of titles against his name but in future one of these young athletes could repeat his success. Most of the film was dedicated to Novosibirsk and the main topic was “Family, Children, Youth”.  Such topic included various interesting slots.            

- You were the leader of the project. One could say that it was a brave decision. Do you understand Russian people?

“Yes, I think I am ok. I arrived in Russia 1991. It was still the Soviet Union then. I did not speak the Russian language at that time and I must admit that I had got involved in some complicated situations because of mere misunderstanding. Whilst I was studying at the Theatrical Institute I received coupons to buy butter. This made me happy because I thought that these coupons could be used instead of money. But when I visited shops, I had to show coupons and pay money too. There was not much food in the shops and for me that was strange… However, Russia has something unusual which attracts me to it and this is why I am still here. I like living and working n Russia”.    
Villi Haapasalo seems to be a very positive person and one can easily notice that he is kind to the other heroes in his programme. The secret behind feeling good, according to  Villi Haapasalo is – “people must love and respect each other”. Sometimes I too fall into bad moods, of course, but then I go out and smile to the people who I meet in the street. At first people are surprised by this but then they smile back to me.  
A training session in the sport complex “Dinamo” was as a smile from Destiny, and it made all participants and spectators feel good.  Aleksander Karelin’s training-partner was the World Champion Danila Ivanov, Danila is the winner of the Olympic Games for deaf persons. Upon a request by the Finnish director, Aleksander Karelin also demonstrated some special wrestling tricks to Villi Haapasalo. The training session was finished with a spontaneous briefing, with Villi Haapasalo asking guestions and the young athletes giving answers. 
Aleksander Karelin said: “You boys are very lucky to have the chance to be Greco-Roman wrestlers. You are part of a big sport family and all Europe will get to know of you, as a wrestlers. To make steady success, you must train hard, listen to your coaches, be hardworking and always aim for your goal!”