Anni Vuohijoki
Aiming for a medal at the career-ending European Championships, a doctorate in medicine and a place at Arcadianmäki
Anni Vuohijoki is the first Finnish woman to pull 200 kg from the ground in a classic powerlifting competition. Vuohijoki is currently aiming for her last international championships in weightlifting. Her to-do list also includes completing her medical doctoral thesis and standing as a candidate in the parliamentary elections.
The soul of the athlete
Anni has been involved in competitive sports all her life. Having started her sporting career in athletics, Goohijoki's main sport was hurdling. In addition to this, football took her all the way to the first division. Athletics also sparked her interest in strength training and Anni started her competitive career in powerlifting in 2008. The sport took off and both Finnish and Nordic records were broken, lift after lift. The European championships were finally crowned with a World Championship bronze medal.
In 2011, it was time to move on. In search of more varied training and challenges, River Goat switched from powerlifting to weightlifting. He became a full-time athlete in 2015. In weightlifting, Anni has won European bronze in 2018 and represented Finland at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Passionate about helping others
Anni also brings the joy of sport, her own skills and her attitude to life forward in her role as a coach. Her first programmes were born in her home gym out of a pure desire to help. In 2013, she was chosen Powerlifting Coach of the Year, the youngest and the first woman in Finland.
In 2020, she completed her coaching studies. Ann became the fourth weightlifting coach in Finland with a specialised coaching qualification.
Today, coaching means to Ann both helping people to reach their goals, regardless of their level, and contributing her knowledge to the development of Finnish weightlifting. Anni also runs her own company Terveysmyrsky Oy, through which she does medical work, and is a partner in The Process, Health and Performance Oy, which has a functional weightlifting gym in Kulosaari, Helsinki.
Doctor and PhD researcher
Anni dreamed of becoming a doctor as a child. Her dream became a reality in 2016 when she was admitted to the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oulu. Vuohijoki graduated as a Licentiate of Medicine in the spring of 2022, after which she published a paper on T2 diabetes management. He is currently working on a PhD thesis on the impact of work-life balance on patient safety, with the aim of obtaining his doctorate before 2024.
A role model and a candidate
Anni Vuohijoki will be a candidate for the spring parliamentary elections in the ranks of Movement Nyt. In addition to her new career goal, she runs two businesses, one of which she runs together with friends and colleagues.
She spends her free time with her new family member, the dwarf bull terrier Luigi, and other close friends. Twerk and shuffle dance classes provide a physical counterbalance to weightlifting.
Anni has a meaningful spring ahead of her. Soon we will be looking forward to the last weightlifting competitions and the results of the parliamentary elections. Addition to these, the focus is on finishing her doctoral thesis and starting her specialisation studies as a doctor.
"If you believe in your own dreams and dare to say them out loud, others will start to believe in them too, or if not, they'll see when you realise them."