In Finland, the sauna is not just a ritual of well-being. It is an institution registered in the national heritage, a place where the spirit of community vibrates, an art of living. Clubs are even dedicated to it. “Traditionally, the sauna is considered a sacred space, a “church of nature””declared UNESCO in 2020 when the Finnish sauna was included on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Nothing surprising in a country which has 3.3 million saunas for 5.5 million inhabitants.
Who comes to take a breath of heat? The majority of Finns go there at least once a week. Some were even born in the steam of the sauna. Private or public, traditional (wood-fired) or electric: all are taken by storm. They are found in hotels, prisons, gyms and most homes and apartments. Families meet there. Business leaders come there to conclude commercial agreements. At the Parliament located in Helsinki and in most Finnish embassies abroad, a sauna allows diplomats to exchange ideas on an equal footing, with only a towel tied around their waist.
A prehistoric tradition
To understand the Finnish people’s obsession with the steam bath (the word “sauna”, established in most languages, is of Finnish origin), we must go back to its origins. The ritual could well date from the seventh millennium BC, in the Neolithic period, at a time when humanity numbered less than 10 million individuals and when continental Europe and the British Isles were still connected by a dry Channel.
In prehistoric Finland, therefore, the first saunas were holes dug in the ground in which a fire was started surrounded by stones. Then simply pour water over the hot stones to release steam and see the temperature rise considerably…
Red as lobsters, the competitors have the painful impression, with each breath, that a flow of lava is descending into their larynx.
Nine millennia later, the ritual has not changed much and remains most often reduced to its simplest expression – no Tibetan gongs or artificial scents, as we see in other Western spas, but only a moment of peace and relaxation.
For Finns, it is a way of life, so much so that it sometimes takes on a sporting dimension, linked to an essential principle of Finnish culture, sisuwhich could be translated as “will” or “tenacity”. How long can you stay in the unbreathable vapors of the sauna? It was in trying to answer this question that the first unofficial endurance competitions were held.
In 1999, the first World Sauna Championships were held in Heinola in southern Finland, about 130 kilometers north of Helsinki. The rules are simple: you must hold out as long as possible in the extreme heat – half a liter of water is poured onto the hot stones every thirty seconds – without losing consciousness.
Inside the room, it’s hot enough to cook an egg on the benches where the contestants sit. Wearing only swimsuits, the latter generally have the physiques of bar pillars (fat is a good insulator) and spend most of their days – and some of their nights – sweating in their own ovens.
Permission to sweat
Specialists are full of praise for the benefits of a sauna session: improvement of blood circulation, reduction of the risk of cardiovascular diseases, reduction of stress and anxiety, relief of asthma and rheumatism…
But in a high-intensity session, everything is reversed. The heart rate accelerates dangerously (around 200 beats per minute), the skin blisters, the ears and lips burn. Red as lobsters, the competitors have the painful impression, with each breath, that a flow of lava is descending into their larynx. Asphyxiation threatens.
Unfortunately, on August 7, 2010, the competition took a tragic turn.
Of course, participants of the Sauna Worlds are aware of the dangers involved and must sign a waiver so that the organizers cannot be held responsible in the event of an accident. Not far away, nurses and paramedics stand at attention, ready to intervene. Despite the unanimous enthusiasm of the Finnish people for the sauna, not everyone is in favor of its competitive version. National scientific authorities and the Finnish Sauna Association (which has more than 4,000 members across the country) fiercely opposed it, judging that the event was “stupid”.
This did not discourage the organizers, nor the competitors, nor the public who rushed to attend (the event was even broadcast by a Japanese television channel). During the first edition of the world championships, in 1999, sixty athletes from five countries participated. Eleven years later, there were 130 competitors from fifteen different nationalities.
Unfortunately, on August 7, 2010, the competition took a tragic turn. Remaining for more than six minutes in an “oven” at 110°C, the two finalists, Timo Kaukonen (Finland) and Vladimir Ladyjenski (Russia), collapsed inside the cabin. The Finnish competitor was rushed to hospital, where he remained in a coma for six weeks. But the Russian participant died.
Unsurprisingly, the organization then announced that the 2010 edition would be the last. “At first the competition was quite fun and relaxed, but it became more serious over timesaid a press release from Heinola town hall. If the City were to organize the world sauna championships in the future, it would be necessary to reintroduce the fun and joyful character which originally characterized this event. Impossible to achieve.”
