Tiia Piili moved to Jyväskylä seven years ago. At that time Jyväskylä was an aerobics Mecca, the place where all the top names lived and trained. Tiia's career has been brilliant. She is a triple world champion and the winner of numerous other medals in top competitions.
Tiia Piili, 26, is engaged in some stretching exercises on the gymnastics mat. The first training session of the day will soon be over. In the evening she will have to put in another few hours. The world aerobics championships are just a couple of weeks away, but the reigning world champion seems relaxed. "During the last few weeks I've been putting the finishing touches to my competition routine, making sure that every movement right down to extending a finger is on the mark. In the championships themselves my routine will be identical in terms of the main elements, but hopefully still slightly better".
Planning and practising the competition routine takes up almost the whole year. This year the routine was designed around a track by the Finnish heavy metal band Nightwish, the dramatic nature of which Piili found irresistible. "Competition music is important. Movement becomes mechanical if the music is not chosen with one's whole heart. This time around I've matched the movements straight to the music."
After the world championships Tiia Piili is satisfied. The gold medal is again hers to bring home. "The competition was really tough, because I performed my programme four times in the space of three days. Fortunately my best performance was in the final and the routine was given a great reception."
Aerobics is a young discipline, but in Finland it has a long history. The first Finnish championships were held in the early 1990s. Sometime around then Tiia Piili saw competitive aerobics on television for the first time.
"I was keen on apparatus gymnastics as a child. I was particularly fond of the floor exercise, where one could make an appearance, put one's soul into things, and perform the most tricks. Aerobics shared some elements of this, but it had even more pace."
When back problems put an end to her gymnastics career, it took Tiia a few years to move across to aerobics. It rapidly became clear that she had found the right discipline. In the space of ten years the sport has developed at a phenomenal speed.
"Aerobics is now faster, more demanding and more all-embracing. The intensity of the discipline has grown tremendously and may increase still, even though at present the two-minute programme is performed at maximum power."
Tiia laughs that the competition routines from the early years now look like a slow motion film. There has also been a big change in performing. "Routines are like mini-dramas, involving a broad range of emotions", she underlines.
Blending emotions into a technical performance is a demanding task. "The performance has to be stamped into your brain in order to really get into different emotions during the routine and sometimes even in the course of one movement."
Tiia made it into the national aerobics team in 1998. The following autumn she began her studies in English philology at the University of Jyväskylä and simultaneously to train more seriously to become world class. Determined training produced the desired result, Tiia winning the silver medal at the 1999 world championships.
"The biggest leap in a more professional direction occurred in the spring of 2000, however, when my boyfriend Mikko Peltonen became my coach. Together we discovered new methods of training which propelled us forwards."
As a discipline aerobics is unbelievably challenging, since it consists of many different elements. When each piece of the jigsaw from physical fitness to technique and performing is in place, that is the time success in major competitions can be expected.
Tiia's career has been outstanding. She is a three-time world champion and winner of numerous medals at big events.
The world's best are relatively close to each other in terms of physical characteristics, but control of the mental side in a competitive situation can well decide the result.
"If one is sufficiently confident and relaxed while performing then technical errors can be avoided and the delivery is more powerful."
A top athlete has to lead a disciplined existence. The training calendar dictates the day-to-day routine. The design of the competition routine often proves preoccupying at all times of the day. "Even when I'm washing up the thought may come to me that perhaps I should turn in the other direction after all when I'm doing a certain movement", Tiia says with a chuckle.
An athlete cannot be a machine that is always switched on at full power. Tiia points out that if she does not get enough rest then her reactions all start to slow up and new ideas are just not generated as quickly.
"Fortunately I'm an on-off person. I find it quite easy to relax and concentrate on something totally different for a while. My favourite hobby is sleeping, and I get energy from that, too." Athletes have to listen to themselves. The body will tell you when it needs rest or less strenuous training.
"A young athlete perhaps doesn't dare to listen yet to the body's signals and may put his or her body into overdrive. Finding the correct balance is learned through experience."
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Photo 1: "Finding the correct balance is learned through experience", Tiia Piili says.
Photo 2 (below): Athletes have to listen to themselves. The body will tell you when it needs rest or less strenuous training.
By Pia Tervoja Photos by Petteri Kivimäki