Jan. 7, 2009
When Ray Kokkonen was growing up in Finland, he was raised on stories of soldiers on skis fighting the Russians.
"To a kid it was a very glamorous thing," he said.
Those stories led him to take up cross-country skiing and eventually biathlon while he served in the Canadian military.
His last competition as an athlete was in 1983 and he now serves as an official with Biathlon Canada, where he still plays an important role in the sport.
After he stopped competing, Kokkonen coached off and on, but then a commander in the military asked him to design a biathlon facility in Wainwright, Alta.
From there, someone contacted him when Calgary was bidding for the 1988 Olympics and he has been involved in Canadian Olympic bids ever since.
When the 2010 Olympics start in Vancouver, one of Kokkonen's designs will be on the world stage once again.
Kokkonen said designing the facilities involves more than just laying out the course. It has to be designed so the spectators can see what happens to the targets at the shooting.
"Everything's pretty well centred on the shooting range," he explained.
The facilities for an event like the Olympics have to be bigger and designed to make room for things like a TV village for broadcasting the event, he said. "It's difficult."
After the Calgary games, Kokkonen was appointed a technical delegate for the Albertville games to make sure Biathlon Canada's standards were met.
He said he made four trips to France a year for four years to look at the course location and help design the biathlon facilities.
"A lot of that was beating my way through the woods to decide where the trail would go."
When Quebec City bid on the 2002 games, Kokkonen was involved in the biathlon course design there, too.
And when Vancouver was bidding on the 2010 games, the bid committee contacted him. Kokkonen said they picked the top person in each sport to help with the bid. "It's humbling in a way, but it's certainly satisfying in another way."
Kokkonen said the Vancouver committee put an emphasis on going green, which meant not disturbing the forest when he designed the facilities. "We were already green in Canmore."
Canmore is where the Calgary games held their biathlon events.
As he designed the facilities for Vancouver, Kokkonen said he had an environmental guy walking along with him to make sure he stayed green in his design. "That's part and parcel of it."
A team of seven or eight people put the design he laid out on paper in place and Kokkenen said things changed from his initial drawings.
"You take everybody's input."
Kokkonen has been writing biathlon rules for 15 years and has been honoured with a place in the sports officials Canadian Hall of Fame. His picture hangs in military gyms across the country after his induction into the Canadian Forces sports Hall of Fame.
But he said one of his biggest honours was his induction into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame as a builder.
"In that kind of company I do feel humbled," he said.
Local biathlon coach Yves St. Germain said Kokkonen brings a lot of knowledge to the area and his experience travelling all over the world benefits the whole the province. "That's great."
Kokkonen was a competitor and shows his passion and dedication to the sport, he said.
"It's an inspiration."
With the Miramichi biathlon club still in its early stages, St. Germain said the kids involved haven't had a chance to meet Kokkonen yet to learn about his experiences.
"It might open up their eyes."
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