Pieti Poikola’s candidacy in the Olympic Committee presidential election seems like an advertisement for a gambling company

Basketball coach Pieti Poikola really confused the pack on Sunday when he announced that he was joining the race for the chairman of the Olympic Committee.

The announcement surprised and dismayed.

Poikola’s project looks more like an advertisement for an international gambling company than a credible attempt to lead a traditional Olympic movement.

Trace lead to a gambling company based in Malta and its chairman of the board Lasse to Rantalawho is familiar to Poikola.

Rantala was Poikola’s assistant coach in Tampere’s Pyrinnö and the Danish national team in 2013–2015.

After coaching basketball, Rantala worked in management positions at international gambling companies until he founded his own company in 2018.

Poikola says that the initiative to run for the chairman of the Olympic Committee came from his circle of acquaintances. Poikola admits that this also includes professionals from the international betting industry.

When Rantala’s name comes up, Poikola laughs.

“We have agreed that I will not bring up the names of the persons,” says Poikola.

“But I do know Lassen.”

”

We have agreed that I will not bring up the names of the persons.

Right now Poikola, who coaches in Slovakia’s main league, never denies that Rantala has an influence in the background.

“My motivation is to fix the lack of resources in Finnish elite sports. One way is to establish a new betting company, the income of which would go unabated to support top sports”, suggests Poikola.

Right after, he admits that Rantala could be a good candidate to help establish such a company.

“Lasse has a really long experience in the field.”

The license system, which breaks Veikkaus’ monopoly and enables international operators, will be operational in practice in mid-2026 at the earliest,

International gambling companies naturally want to make themselves known in Finland even before the law change.

Pieti Poikola, is your candidacy a publicity stunt by your acquaintance’s gambling company?

“No, yes, we are talking about sports here. We have agreed with my betting friends that even if my candidacy would bring visibility to the company, the company would not use it for its own benefit,” he replies.

The company doesn’t really need to do anything. Simply mentioning the name of the gambling company in connection with the Olympic Committee election would bring it visibility.

Poikola must be genuinely worried about the state of top sports in Finland. Who wouldn’t be.

On the other hand, it seems unbelievable that he would be serious about applying for the presidency of the Olympic Committee – or at least that he would genuinely believe in his chances of winning.

Until now, none of the member organizations of the Olympic Committee had nominated Poikola as their candidate, which according to the rules is a condition for seeking the chairmanship of the board.

Poikola confessed In an interview with MTV Urheiluthat he didn’t even know how the application process was going. He said he signed up for the race “mainly to spark a conversation”.

“Yeah, I wasn’t that well informed about Finnish sports politics. I got to know it right away,” he says now.

The first person to register for the Olympic Committee chairmanship race Tapio Korjus so there is only one counter-candidate who is not even officially a candidate.

This says everything essential about the attractiveness of the highest leadership position in Finnish sports – and the election itself.