In my childhood I wouldn’t have imagined that one day I would beat national records or take part in the Olympic Games. Today it has become reality. If in the beginning of my career I primarily participated in stadium distances, then later I advanced into marathon distance.

I am one in four athletes in the Olympic Games history that has participated in two different Olympics with both a 1500m run and a marathon.

I became the head of a family in 2007 when I married the loveliest woman in the world, Maili. In 2010, when our son Jakob was born, I became a father. In 2015 I became a father to our second son, Ruuben. In 2018 our third child, a daughter Lili, was born. I recon I have yet to reach the end of the journey in becoming a good father.

My first acquaintance with Christianity stems from my childhood when I participated in a Lutheran summer camp for children. There I received a book of Bible stories from which I learned to read. I almost don’t remember a time when I did not believe in God. I prayed occasionally, but to a God without a name.

A more profound contact with Christianity came in my teenage years – at a time when I was in a youth detention centre and alone with all my struggles. I finally found myself in church with all my existential questions in 2003.