This week, All Points North will evaluate the opportunities for Finnish athletes at the Beijing Winter Olympics, as Finland aims to maintain its proud record of medals in all competitions since the first Games of 1924.
Preparations for the games have been overshadowed by the Covid pandemic as well as the diplomatic boycott, however Ilkka Palomäki A representative of the Finnish Olympic Committee told APN that the focus should now be on skiers, skaters and snowboarders competing for the Olympic Games.
"Athletes are competing here – for most of them, this is the biggest competition of their lives, and I think everyone should respect that." Palomäki said.
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APN is also following a recent story about the exploitation of foreign workers in Finland, when Yle’s MOT investigative journalism unit revealed poor working conditions and hygiene standards in the central kitchen of the Espresso House café chain.
A former kitchen worker, Ana-Maria Albastroiutold APN that it should be the responsibility of employers to proactively identify and stop all exploitation practices, rather than expecting employees to report them.
"We should also emphasize companies that take advantage of workers, because yes, workers should know their rights, but companies that take advantage of workers who do not know their rights are a big problem. How can we prevent it? How can we really hold companies accountable," he said.
“Be a friend”
This week we also sent out our rotating reporter Melanie Hall to the frozen Tuusulanjärvi in southern Finland to learn more about the importance of measuring ice thickness.
There are several reports of falling and drowning in weak ice each year, and last year drowned the most drownings in more than a decade.
Antti Niemi and Veli Sipolaknown by the common name Ice observers (roughly translated as “ice observers”), told the APN that there are many preventative measures people can take when stepping out of a frozen lake, including always bringing a friend along.
"Never go alone if you do not know the environment," Niemi advised.
Join the conversation!
This week’s presentation was presented by Ronan Browne and Egan Richardson and presented a section on Melanie Hall. It has been produced Mark B. Odom and the sound engineer was Laura Koso.
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Source: The Nordic Page