40 years old: World swimming champion Hanna-Maria Hintsa is now studying to become a doctor

When Hanna-Maria Hintsa was 18 years old, he won the 100-meter freestyle world championship. In the same year, 2003, he was also chosen as Sportsman of the Year.

“I was still a baby,” Hintsa says now.

The success brought publicity, and handling it didn’t always seem easy.

“I am an introverted person. Although people came to say initially wonderful things, it took time to get used to being noticed. At that point, I would have needed peer support. The most encased. I noticed that I’m comfortable inside at home alone and I hardly go anywhere. Little by little, I learned that publicity belongs to elite sports.”

Nowadays, Hintsa is rarely seen in public, and the attention coming at the level of encounters already feels good. For example, when people praise swimming in an Italian pool as beautiful.

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“I would have needed peer support. I was encased.”

HINGE is studying to become a doctor in Milan, the goal is to graduate in about a year. The studies started in Latvia, but after the first school year, Hintsa felt that she could get a more suitable education after a longer distance.

He got used to traveling already as a swimmer.

“Back then, there were around 250 travel days per year.”

When Hintsa and I agreed on the story, he was just at Helsinki-Vantaa airport leaving for Milan. Six days later, he was in Helsinki again, and a total of one hour was found for the interview and filming.

Good thing too, because Hintsa will travel to Milan one more time before Christmas. In January, there are four round trips ahead.

“It’s like this now – the schedule is always very tight when visiting Finland,” he laughs.

IN HIGH SCHOOL Hintsa had the idea that work must involve helping others. However, I had to concentrate fully on swimming, so the demanding medical studies had to wait.

Still, at that time Hanna-Maria Seppälä the well-known resident of Kerava studied to be a physiotherapist and continued his studies so that he graduated with a master’s degree in exercise science in 2017, just a year after quitting competitive swimming.

“I wanted to rack my brain in it along with swimming.”

Along with swimming and studying, Hintsa worked as an entrepreneur, because during his active years, sponsorship cooperation was channeled through his own company. After his career, he has also been involved in the Sport Fund, which financially supports young and talented athletes.

“The money spent on culture and sports is decreasing all the time. That was one of the reasons for establishing the fund,” says Hintsa.

Fund selected athletes are required to establish their own company. In this way, it is easier to reach out to life after sports as well.

That transition can be difficult for athletes. It wasn’t easy for Hintsa either.

“I try to prepare for quitting carefully. Tanja Poutiainen was a mother figure to me, from whom I could ask for advice on everything.”

Poutiainen, Finland’s most successful alpine skier of all time, ended his own career two years before Hintsa.

FROM SWIMMING As a child, Hintsa was already interested in the example of the three older brothers. When they swam, Hanna-Maria initially hung on the edge of the pool in her mother’s hand.

“As a child, I had up to seven hobbies at the same time. I was also good at athletics. Swimming was chosen as the main sport, because the best friends participated in it and the atmosphere in the swimming hall was good. I had the best time there,” he recalls.

The brothers continued to swim – at least until the sister swam harder times than them. However, the brothers remained close. For years, the sisters had a joint company focused on sports marketing.

Mother was also important. Mirjami Seppälä served as his daughter’s coach throughout this career.

“If it wasn’t successful, I immediately started analyzing the reason with my mother. I got a motivational boost”, describes Hintsa.

“And then again, if it was successful, it felt like, Is this it?”

For Hintsa in sports, the process was more important than the goal. The trip to the top gave more than basking on the top.

“I know this sounds really contradictory, because of course winning was also important. However, I really enjoyed training and how I met a lot of people during the training season,” he says.

“I got to be part of an international swimming family that was passionate about the same thing. Together, we carefully consider some small detail, for example regarding the translation.”

From Hintsa is often asked why he, like many Olympic athletes, has not tattooed the Olympic rings on his body.

“I don’t need a tattoo to remember that I’ve been to the Olympics. I remember anyway”, he says.

“And why would I announce it to others? I know myself that I have a really sweet history.”

What would you tell your 20-year-old self?

“Enjoy life.”