Matti Rajakylä

Matti Rajakylä (born August 14, 1984 in Kirkkonummi, Finland) is a former freestyle and butterfly swimmer from Finland. He has held several Finnish national records in both long course and short course. He participated in the Summer Olympics in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

Matti Rajakylä
Personal information
Full nameMatti Rajakylä
Nationality Finland
Born (1984-08-14) August 14, 1984
Kirkkonummi, Finland
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight87 kg (192 lb)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesButterfly, Freestyle
ClubHelsingfors Simsällskap
Medal record
Men's swimming
European Championships (SC)
Silver medal – second place 2006 Helsinki 4×50 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Vienna 4×50 m medley
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Trieste 50 m butterfly

Rajakylä's achievements include the bronze in the 50 m freestyle at the European Junior Championships in Linz, Austria in 2002, the bronze in the 4×50 m medley relay at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Wien, Austria in 2004 and the bronze in the 50 m butterfly at the European SC Championships in Trieste, Italy in 2005 with a time of 23.17.[1] Rajakylä finished third in the semi-finals of 50m butterfly at the European LC Championships 2006 in Budapest, Hungary, but was left on sixth position in the finals.[2]

In December, at the European Short Course Swimming Championships 2006 in Helsinki, Finland, Rajakylä managed to achieve silver medal status in the men's 4 x 50m medley relay.[3] He came in last in each of his personal finals.[4][5][6]

In April 2009 Rajakylä announced that he quits his swimming career.[7]

Records

Rajakylä has hold Finnish national records in following events:[8][9]

Distance Event Time Location Date
50 m (lc) Freestyle 22.48 Beijing, China August 14, 2008
50 m (sc) Freestyle 21.70 Trieste, Italy December 8, 2005
100 m (sc) Freestyle 48.05 Seinäjoki July 4, 2008
50 m (sc) Butterfly 23.17 Trieste, Italy December 11, 2005
4 x 50 m (sc) Freestyle Relay 1:26.68 Dublin, Ireland December 14, 2003
10 x 50 m (sc) Freestyle Relay 4:02.02 Helsinki March 21, 2004
4 × 200 m (sc) Freestyle Relay 7:26.59 Jyväskylä July 5, 2007
4 x 50 m (sc) Medley Relay 1:34.95 Helsinki December 7, 2006

Rajakylä has also set the world record for the 24-hour swim along with other Finnish swimmers in September 2005.[10]

Personal life

After his retirement from the sport, Rajakylä met Indian Hindu spiritual leader Amma in Finland in 2009, which led him to live in an ashram in Kerala, India, from six to nine months per year from 2011 to 2017. Rajakylä works as a swimming coach, and he lives in Santa Cruz, California, with his American wife whom he had met in the ashram.[11]

References
  1. Information booklet on all Finnish swimmers who took part in the European LC Championships in Budapest 2006 (in Finnish) Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Men's 50m Butterfly Results
  3. Men's 4x50m Medley Results
  4. Omega Timing site (1) Archived 2007-01-05 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Omega Timing site (2) Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Omega Timing site (3) Archived 2007-01-07 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Uimari Matti Rajakylä kyllästyi ja lopetti - Uimari Matti Rajakylä kyllästyi ja lopetti - HS.fi - Urheilu". Archived from the original on 2009-06-03.
  8. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2008-08-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2008-08-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. Swimming World Magazine article Archived 2007-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Kiiski, Timo (11 March 2021). "Rauhaa etsimässä". Iltalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 11 March 2021.
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