Famous People Born In Turku

Paavo Nurmi was a Finnish athlete who specialized in long-distance and middle-distance running. Nicknamed the Flying Finn, Nurmi dominated important distance running events in the early 20th century. He won nine gold medals and three silver medals across three Olympics in 1920, 1924, and 1928. Paavo Nurmi also set 22 official world records during his career.

One of Finland’s greatest hockey players of all time, Saku Koivu has been part of the Finnish World Championship-winning team in 1995. He has won 4 Olympic medals, including a silver. He is a cancer survivor and has been part of the International Olympic Committee Athletes' Commission.

Miikka Kiprusoff is a Finnish retired ice hockey player who played as a goaltender. He is best known for helping his national team win the bronze medal at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. He also won silver medals at the 1999 and 2001 World Championships as well as a silver medal at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

Mikko Koivu is a Finnish retired ice hockey player who played as a centre. He is best known for leading the Finnish national team at the 2011 World Championship where the team won the gold medal. Mikko Koivu was also part of the team that won a silver medal and a bronze medal at the 2006 and 2010 Olympics, repsectively.

Finnish singer-songwriter Teemu Brunila soared to fame as the lead singer of The Crash. He later formed Fried Publishing, which transformed to Nordic Music Partners. It is believed he is also part of the international electro-pop band Studio Killers, which doesn’t reveal the identities of its members.

Finnish Left Alliance politician Li Andersson serves as her country’s minister of education. A socialist feminist, she is also a member of Turku’s City Council. She has also been active in trade unions and has fought for human rights. She has previously led the youth wing of her party, Left Youth.

Niklas Moisander is a Finnish football player who plays as a defender. From 2008 to 2017, he was an important player for the Finland national team, during which he was named Finnish Footballer of the Year twice. Niklas Moisander also plays for popular clubs and is the winner of prestigious tournaments like the Johan Cruyff Shield and Svenska Cupen.

Rasmus Ristolainen is a Finnish ice hockey player best known for winning the gold medal at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Malmö. Rasmus Ristolainen currently plays for the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL.

The 9th president of Finland, Finnish politician Mauno Koivisto had also been a 2-time prime minister of his country. The Social Democratic Party member had served as a corporal with the Finnish Army and had also participated in the Winter War, or the First Soviet-Finnish War.

Kasper Hämäläinen is a Finnish football player who played for the Finland national team from 2008 to 2019. He earned 63 caps and scored nine goals for his country. He also represented Finland at the 2012 Baltic Cup where they finished second. Kasper Hämäläinen currently plays for Turun Palloseura (TPS).

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Teemu Packalen, also known as Pacu, initially played ice hockey and trained in wrestling, before switching to mixed martial arts. A national amateur wrestling and MMA champion, he later competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight division. He and his fitness model fiancée have a daughter.

Johan Gadolin was a Finnish physicist, chemist, and mineralogist. He achieved popularity for his description of yttrium, the first rare-earth element. Johan Gadolin is also remembered for his service as a professor at the Royal Academy of Turku, where he became one of the first chemists to give laboratory exercises to students.

Finnish architect, environmental-artist and architectural theorist Marco Casagrande gained critical attention producing architectonic installations with Finnish architect and artist Sami Rintala from 1998 to 2003 under their partnership Casagrande & Rintala, for venues of contemporary architecture and art across the globe. One of the most notable works of Casagrande & Rintala, which dissolved in 2003, is the Land(e)scape in Savonlinna  

Erik Bryggman, a pioneer in modernist-architecture in Finland, gained attention designing-houses in Finland in Nordic-Classicism style. He later transitioned to modernism. He collaborated with architect Alvar Aalto; design for Turku Fair of 1929 is considered best-known project of the duo. Notable individual works of Bryggman include extension to library of Åbo Akademi University, Turku, and Resurrection Chapel in Turku cemetery.