Helena Halme: The Red King of Helsinki: Lies, Spies and Gymnastics

‘C’mon Pia.’ Miss Joutila guided her by the arm. The teacher’s face was contorted, her mouth in a straight line. Pia couldn’t understand why Miss Joutila was so nervous. She should be used to competitions like this. It was Pia and the other girls who should be nervous and Miss Joutila, if she were a proper teacher, should calm them down by example. Perhaps she’d had another fight with Kovtun. He’d looked fed up with her at the gymnasium earlier. Well, it was her own stupid fault to fall for a violent man like that. Miss Joutila should have known better.

The lights of the vast hall blinded Pia as she followed Miss Joutila and the girls onto the stage. As if in a trance she curtseyed to the audience and then to the judges as Miss Joutila had told them to.

Maija was reluctant to let Pia out of her sight, but Pia convinced her that she must go alone into the changing rooms with Miss Joutila and the other girls. The teacher grabbed hold of Maija’s arm and said, ‘She’ll be fine. I promise.’ Maija watched as the girls walked around the building. People were milling around the entrance to the ice-hockey hall. Another larger group of girls alighted from a bus and, giggling, went the same way as Pia and Miss Joutila. A blue and white Finnish flag fluttered next to the red flag of the USSR in the slight breeze. The sun was low and hidden behind grey clouds. Maija couldn’t decide what to do. Should she go after Pia? Iain had told her not to get involved, but to act as normally as possible. Maija shook her head. None of this was normal.

Maija found a seat right at the front, only three rows from the edge of the rink. The hall was full. She saw a few familiar faces from the school. No Anni or Mr Linnonmaa, though. The stage was decorated with the two flags at the far end. Maija wondered why the Russian one seemed much larger than the Finnish one. Was that a trick of the eye or had the Soviets brought a bigger flag with them? She wouldn’t be surprised if they had. There was a large blue mat in the middle, and a long table with a row of chairs behind it facing the mat. The table was covered with a piece of felt that reached the floor. The judges, five women and two men, were sitting at the table chatting to each other in low voices. One woman in the middle wore black-rimmed glasses and her lips were painted bright pink. While the others chatted across her, she occasionally glanced at the large clock on the side of the hall and then at her wrist watch. She surveyed the hall as people drifted in and were seated. She seemed to be in charge. Suddenly she raised her arm. This silenced the people around her and most of the spectators.

The woman spoke in Russian and seemed to be addressing a cordoned off area on the opposite side of the hall. It was mostly made up of men dressed in dark suits.

Next a Finnish man spoke, but Maija wasn’t paying any attention to what he said. Instead she was scanning the hall, trying to spot Iain. He had promised to be there to keep an eye out for Pia. Perhaps he’d gone down to the dressing rooms? Would they let him in?

When at last the Finnish man had finished talking, all the people at the table got up and started clapping. The group of dignitaries in the hall did the same. Slowly the spectators realised they too should stand up and clap. Finally a group of girls with red costumes and ribbons in their hair ran out into the middle of the mat. The Russian girls stood in a row, the tallest one first and the smallest last, reminding Maija of the Sound of Music children. They curtseyed first to the judges then turned around and did the same to the men in dark suits. Maija noticed a stout looking woman with grey hair pulled into a bun watching the girls from the sidelines and clapping enthusiastically. She must be the trainer, Maija thought. She didn’t look anything like Miss Joutila. Once again the audience was on its feet clapping politely. When the smallest of the girls started running back towards their trainer, the tallest one looked back into the hall searching for someone. She was the same age as Pia, and she had the same long dark hair. Suddenly her narrow face lit up and she waved towards a man standing in the box of dignitaries. The girl did a small skip and a jump, making her brown ponytail bounce, and caught up with the rest of the girls. Maija stretched to see who she’d been waving to.

She couldn’t believe her eyes.

The man the girl had waved and smiled to so sweetly was Kovtun. A shiver ran down Maija’s spine and she wanted to get up and go to Pia when the Lyceum girls ran to the centre of the stage and started curtseying and waving to the audience. Maija felt a lump in her throat when she saw Pia in her smart blue costume, smiling up to the hall. How confident and tall she was! And how beautiful! Maija’s heart was filled with pride. The feeling was almost unbearable. She even wished Pia’s father had been there.

Maija clapped so hard her hands were hurting. Before the Lyceum girls disappeared and Pia ran away, she smiled briefly in her direction, and blew a kiss to her daughter. She looked over to where the Russian was standing. He was clapping politely, showing no recognition of Pia. Maija sighed and once again scanned the audience.

No Iain.

Four other teams were introduced, two each from Finnish and Soviet schools. The severe looking Russian trainer seemed to be in charge of all the Russian children, whereas the Finns had a different teacher for each school.

Everyone sat down as the lights dimmed. The first Russian team of girls ran towards the blue mat. They stood still at the edge for a moment, and then broke into fast rolls and jumps, one girl imitating the next in rapid succession. Even Maija, who knew very little about the sport, could see how talented the Russian girls were. Their supple bodies were able to bend in ways that seemed impossible. When they jumped it seemed that they had springs on the bottom of their feet. Something made Maija look up to the top of the hall and she saw a familiar grey head. Iain was here after all! Maija smiled and turned her head away, relieved.

When the music stopped, all eyes were on the judges who had their heads down, making notes. After a few minutes, the woman in black glasses lifted her head up and glanced along the line of the table, first left then right. She nodded to Miss Joutila, who had appeared at the side of the hall. Miss Joutila opened the door, and with Pia leading, the Lyceum girls ran to the edge of the mat. The music started, and this time Maija recognised it. A piece from Sibelius’ Karelia Suite filled the hall.

Maija had tears in her eyes as she watched the competent, but clearly inferior gymnastic display of the Finnish team. Now Maija felt even more anger at Miss Joutila. She had let the KGB agent into Pia’s life and been telling the Lyceum girls that they had a good chance of winning the Tournament. The teacher must have known how brilliant the Russian girls were. Maija looked for Miss Joutila, but now she couldn’t see her. Perhaps she was too embarrassed to stay.

Maija sat motionless and watched the other teams perform. Each time the Russians were much better. A small girl who performed an individual routine looked as if she was double-jointed as she performed her splits and handstands with a serious expression on her face. The taller, much older Finnish competitor in the individual category moved a couple of beats slower and achieved less complicated positions. Maija wondered what the point of the competition was. The teams were obviously at totally different levels.

After each performance finished to rapturous applause, the judges deliberated in silence. When it was over, all eyes were on them. The woman in the black-rimmed glasses wrote furiously. Then she lifted her pen and appeared to reread what she had written. Maija saw her turn the page and examine her previous notes. She lifted her head and looked across to the group of dignitaries. She nodded and turned her head right and left, waiting for each of the judges to lift their heads up and nod to her.