Minna Nieminen

Minna Nieminen ( born August 31, 1976 in Lappeenranta ) is a Finnish rower.

Nieminen was a promising cross-country skier as teenagers. It was not until the late 1990s she began rowing and was soon noticed by the coach Veikko Sinisalo, who started for a team in the lightweight double sculls. Her first partner was Ilona Hiltunen, proclaiming the eleventh and 2003 reached the eighteenth place finish at the World Rowing Championships in 2002. After both failed to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Nieminen rowed on alone. At the world championships in the same year, she managed third place in the lightweight single sculls.

Your new partner was Sanna Stén. With it, she won the third place in 2007 and even the second place at the World Rowing Championships in 2005. That made two of the most successful rowers since Pertti Karppinens successes in the 1980s.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing she and Stén won the silver medal in the lightweight double sculls.

International success

• 2002: 11th place at the World Championships in the lightweight double sculls ( with Ilona Hiltunen )
• 2003: 18th place at the World Championships in the lightweight double sculls ( with Ilona Hiltunen )
• 2004: 3rd place at the World Championships in the lightweight single sculls
• 2005: 3rd place at the World Championships in the lightweight double sculls ( with Sanna Stén )
• 2006: 6th place at the World Championships in the lightweight double sculls ( with Sanna Stén )
• 2007: 2nd place at the World Championships in the lightweight double sculls ( with Sanna Stén )
• 2007: 2nd place at the European Championships in the lightweight double sculls ( with Sanna Stén )
• 2008: 2nd place at the Olympic Games in the lightweight double sculls ( with Sanna Stén )