When Jukka Ammondt turned eight, he got dumbbells from his parents and Alexis Kiven Seven brothers. The young man had no idea that they would be a central part of his everyday life even at the age of 80.
The father, who worked as a repair manager at the Kauttua paper mill, was a keen sportsman and made his son little pounds. Little Jukka, who enjoys a variety of sports, did not need to be forced into strength training.
“The attraction to sports has come to me as a blood inheritance.”
Ammondt started going to the gym regularly when he was a student, and strength training is still the cornerstone of the retired professor’s life.
“When I open my eyes and find myself still in my bodily state, I wake myself up with a little pole walk along the Jyväskylä beach track.”
Among Jyväskylä’s outdoor gyms, Ammondt’s favorite place is on the beach, where you can enjoy the morning sun and feel connected to nature and watch not only water birds but also people working on their boats. Ammondt’s balcony opens up to beautiful views of Jyväsjärvi.
The first ones jaws Ammondt pulls the outdoor gym on a sled and continues various hand movements in the building company’s gym. Then he goes up the stairs to his apartment on the 13th floor, washes up and eats oatmeal.
After this, Ammondt moves to his study and starts the creative phase of the day. The bookshelves reaching up to the ceiling are filled with works that have clearly been read numerous times. From the window opens a beautiful view of Jyväsjärvi, and on the opposite bank is Ammondt’s long-time workplace, Alvar Aalton red brick Jyväskylä university campus designed by
At the age of 80 Jukka Ammondt feels that he is living the best time of his life. He can focus on writing, planning lectures and implementing projects, the largest of which is 700 pages long Testament of the researcher graduated in 2023. In it, he examines the three major influencers of our theater history from a male perspective Minna Canthin, Maria Jotunin and Hella Wuolijoki the effort as women to seize life and leave a mark on it.
Ammondt already familiarized himself with Wuolijoki’s plays in his doctoral thesis completed in 1980. In 1985, he wrote a play Fighting Hellawhich received widespread media attention.
In the afternoon, it’s time for the actual gym workout: overhead pull-ups, bicep curls, push-ups, front squats, corner rows and, of course, chin-ups.
“Sometimes I get too excited, and I feel it the next morning in my arms and muscles.”
By exercising, Ammondt takes care of his body, or his spirit tank, as he calls it Cicero citing. He also sees the gym as a place for a man’s integration.
“You can gather there to test your strength with your fellow athletes. The man’s territory has narrowed and the woman’s has expanded.”
Jukka Ammondt is worried about the decline in reading skills of today’s people. “It means a narrowing of thinking, and at the same time the connection to the spiritual self withers.” He himself likes to read poems, for example.
Sports moreover, even as a small boy Ammondt felt a strong attraction to literature, in particular Seven to his brother.
“It’s a wonderful coming-of-age story with adventure and fascinating freedom. I have read the last pages many times in my life.”
In the final exam in the mother tongue of high school, Ammondt was able to excel with his knowledge of Aleksis Kive’s work and recited his poems from memory. He got an A on this exam, even though he wasn’t particularly motivated by going to school.
“One of my school friends said that with this answer we will go to the University of Turku to read literature, where he is a professor Eino Krohn. I got excited about the proposal and started down that path.”
Krohn taught literature and aesthetics. Even his first lecture convinced Ammondt that the study of beauty, humanism and longing is also his life’s mission.
of the 1980s after a painful divorce at the end of the year, Ammondt started singing tango in addition to his academic career.
“Tango saved me. The ex-wife left for the United States and took our three children with her. I had a constant longing for children beyond the open sea.”
Ammondt’s first tango album was released in 1993. On the next album he sang Toivo Kärjen tangos in Latin. Colleague Teivas Oksala with a twinkle in his eye, had offered to translate the bars into a language in which even the Pope could listen to them.
And no time at all, when the Finnish Foreign Affairs Administration was sent to the Vatican Doctor Ammondtin levy The Finnish tango is sad. Shortly after this, Ammondt and Oksala received the Pope From John Paul II medals of honor.
“In 1995, the release of my Elvis album was the most read Finnish-related news in the United States,” says Jukka Ammondt.
In music circles, Jukka Ammondt uses the stage name Doctor Ammondt. The cover of Rocking in Latin (1997) immortalized his preference for bodybuilding.
Breakthrough to international stages happened in 1995, when Ammondt had recorded in Latin Elvis Presley songs. That’s when performance arenas opened up in the United States. He has performed Finnish tango in Argentina and Uruguay, among others, and lectured on its special features in different parts of the world.
Ammondt, who became known as a tango doctor, believes that a higher power has given each of us our own path and mission.
“You should become more sensitive to listening to the call.”
What would you tell your 20-year-old self?
“Take good care of your body. It keeps your senses refreshed and you open up to experience the beauty that comes from eternity and leads you to the shoreless sea of love.”
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Born in 1944 in Tampere, grew up in the mining milieu in Kauttua.
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Studied literature, philosophy, French and political science at the University of Turku.
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Master of Philosophy 1974, University of Jyväskylä. Doctor of Philosophy 1980. Docent of Literature 1987, University of Jyväskylä. Literature lecturer 1992–2008, University of Jyväskylä. Professor title 2008.
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Numerous scientific and fictional works. Recorded 11 albums under the stage name Doctor Ammondt.
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Jyväskylä city council 2006–2016.
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Enjoys reading, thinking about humanity and going to the gym.
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Lives in Jyväskylä. Three adult children live in the United States.
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Turns 80 on Monday July 29th. Spend your anniversary on hiking trails in the Finnish national landscape.