International Women’s Day 2022 – Meet Sini Pyy: The Beijing 2022 Paralympian changing the face of sustainability on two fronts

For Beijing 2022 Para Nordic skier Sini Pyy advocating for change never stops.

Disability rights, gender equality and climate change are all causes the 29-year-old Finn uses her platform as a Para-athlete to shed light on in a pursuit of a better, more equal world.

In keeping with this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) theme “gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, discover the remarkable woman leading the charge for the climate to ensure a more sustainable future for all.

Growing up in Rovaniemi, a town in northern Finland, the world outside Pyy’s window from October onwards always looked like a winter wonderland.

The young Finn was on skis near enough around the time she could walk, and even after her life-changing car accident left her with a spinal cord injury, the three-time Paralympian’s love of the outdoors never waned even if it meant changing the way she enjoyed it:

“When you grow up hunting with your dad and going on ski trips, basically living outside all the time, it’s something that is part of you and it’s something you need,” Pyy said in an interview to Paralympic.org.

“I’ve been skiing all my life. I love to be outside and that’s one of things I also missed when I ended up in a wheelchair. It’s harder to go outside with a wheelchair, especially out in nature, and when I got my first sit ski, I realised that’s possible again.”

Once Pyy took up Para Nordic skiing in 2012, she found herself able to reconnect with her surrounding environment and her joy at being back in the snowy forests she had grown up loving was soon reflected in her sporting results.

She made her international debut representing Finland that same year before then making it to the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games two years later.

But as the seasons went by, the Finn began noticing changes in her environment. Winters once rich with snowfall were few and far between. And when her political science degree at University of Lapland opened her eyes to the realities of those living in the Arctic region and the importance of the environment on indigenous populations, Pyy understood she, and the people of her community, were living the realities of climate change:

“We had winters with little snow and this year, we didn’t ski properly until December,” Pyy continued to Paralympic.org

“We had the first snow tracks open but natural snow came very late and that is crazy because I remember the winters we had when I was a child, and they were so long. We are seeing this change already and, of course, it’s more drastic the more south you go.”

As a Para-athlete that travels the world to compete, Pyy found herself challenged on her lifestyle and how she personally was contributing to the damage on the climate.

“For a winter athlete, climate change is already a concrete thing: if there is no snow, the races will have to be cancelled or postponed,” the Finn shared to Lapland Student Magazine. “However, there are ways to play sports that respect the environment.

“Clothes can be used longer and recycled,” Pyy explained. “We have also explored the use of recycled materials in the manufacture of a new sled. I try to travel by train whenever possible and take advantage of technology: for example, many meetings today are handled conveniently via Skype.”

Pyy has doubled down on her commitments to help fight climate change by joining Protect Our Winters (POW). The outdoor climate action charity empowers people to become effective climate advocates who can help achieve system solutions to climate change.

She joined the charity as an ambassador and will hope to combine her Paralympic platform with her work for POW to encourage others to educate themselves in the one of the most pressing issues facing our world.

And already she is being heard.

Just recently Pyy was one of five Paralympians set to compete at Beijing 2022 to be awarded a grant courtesy of the ‘Athlete for Good’ programme – a joint initiative with P&G, the IPC and the International Olympic Committee.

The sit skier received a share of USD 400,000 which will be used to help grow POW’s education programming.

Pyy’s fight for a sustainable world ties into much of the previous advocacy work done by the para skier.

In addition to being a climate change campaigner the Finn is also heavily involved in promoting disability rights, and particularly those of women.

At PyeongChang 2018, Pyy was one of two athletes to receive the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award. The accolade recognises an athlete of either gender that best represents the spirit of the Games and the Paralympic values.

The Para Nordic skier was awarded the prize for her role in the establishing of the first athletes’ council for the National Paralympic Committee of Finland. Because of Pyy, Finnish Para athletes – male and female - can lend their voice to the Paralympic movement and shape its future.

As well as serving on that athletes’ commission, Pyy is also a member of the IPC’s Women in Sport Committee.

The committee was established to provide the IPC with advice on issues of gender equity in Paralympic Sport after repeated concerns regarding the low participation of women within the Paralympic Movement.

Six elected members including Pyy meet once a year to discuss a range of gender specific issues including barriers to entry for female Para athletes to policies and initiatives to increase overall participation.

Between training and competing it keeps the Finn busy, but she wouldn’t have it any other way:

“The realisation of opportunities for women the disabled is important to me,” she continued to Lapland Student Magazine. “For me, sport is the way I can make a difference and make my voice heard.”