Sari Essayah

Sari Essayah

Sari Miriam Essayah (born 21 February 1967, in Haukivuori) is a Finnish retired race walker and a politician, former Member of the European Parliament and Member of Parliament since 2015. She is the president of the Finnish Christian Democrats party. Her father is from Morocco.

During her sports career, Essayah competed mainly in 5 000 and 10 000 metres. In the latter, she won the World Championship in 1993 and the European Championship in 1994. She made seven national records, all of which are still standing.

After retiring from sports she entered politics and represented the Christian Democrats in the Finnish parliament between 2003–2007 but failed to get reelected in the election of 2007. She served as the Christian Democrats' party secretary from 2007 to 2009. Essayah was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 but failed to be reelected in 2014 despite her 61 000 votes. This left the Finnish Christian Democrats without MEPs in the 2014 election.^[1]

Essayah was candidate in the Finnish presidential election, 2012. She came last with 2.47 percent of the votes.

In the 2015 Parliamentary elections, Essayah was elected to represent a newly formed constituency of Savonia and Karelia with over 11 000 votes.^[2] She was later chosen to be the vice speaker of the Christian Democrats' Parliamentary group. In August, she was chosen the new chair of her party after her successor, Päivi Räsänen, retired from the position after over ten years.^[3]

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing Finland
1987	World Championships	Rome, Italy	19th	10 km	47:30
1989	Universiade	Duisburg, West Germany	3rd	5000 m	21:34
1990	European Championships	Split, Yugoslavia	5th	10 km	45:10
1991	World Race Walking Cup	San Jose, United States	16th	10 km	46:20
	Universiade	Sheffield, England	1st	10 km	44:04
	World Championships	Tokyo, Japan	3rd	10 km	43:13
1992	Olympic Games	Barcelona, Spain	4th	10 km	45:08
1993	World Race Walking Cup	Monterrey, Mexico	2nd	10 km	45:18
1993	World Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	1st	10 km	42:59
1994	European Championships	Helsinki, Finland	1st	10 km	42:37
1995	World Race Walking Cup	Beijing, PR China	12th	10 km	44:21
1995	World Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	4th	10 km	42:20
1996	Olympic Games	Atlanta, United States	16th	10 km	45:02

References

↑ Candidates, Yle site for EU elections 2014. May 26, 2014.
↑ Yle site for Parliamentary elections 2015. April 24, 2015.
↑

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sari Essayah.

World Champions in Women's Race Walking

10 km	1987: Irina Strakhova (URS) 1991: Alina Ivanova (URS) 1993: Sari Essayah (FIN) 1995: Irina Stankina (RUS) 1997: Annarita Sidoti (ITA)}

20 km	1999: Liu Hongyu (CHN) 2001: Olimpiada Ivanova (RUS) 2003: Yelena Nikolayeva (RUS) 2005: Olimpiada Ivanova (RUS) 2007: Olga Kaniskina (RUS) 2009: Olga Kaniskina (RUS) 2011: Olga Kaniskina (RUS) 2013: Elena Lashmanova (RUS) 2015: Liu Hong (CHN)

European Champions in women's racewalking

1986–1998: 10 kilometres race walk 2002–: 20 kilometres race walk

1986: Mari Cruz Díaz (ESP) 1990: Annarita Sidoti (ITA) 1994: Sari Essayah (FIN) 1998: Annarita Sidoti (ITA) 2002: Olimpiada Ivanova (RUS) 2006: Ryta Turava (BLR) 2010: Olga Kaniskina (RUS) 2014: Elmira Alembekova (RUS)

Summer Universiade Champions in Women's Race Walking

1985–1989: 5 km Walk 1991–2001: 10 km Walk 2003–2007: 20 km Walk

1985: Aleksandra Grigoryeva (URS) 1987: Li Sujie (CHN) 1989: Ileana Salvador (ITA) 1991: Sari Essayah (FIN) 1993: Long Yuwen (CHN) 1995: Annarita Sidoti (ITA) 1997: Larisa Ramazanova (BLR) 1999: Claudia Iovan (ROM) 2001: Gao Hongmiao (CHN) 2003: Tatyana Sibileva (RUS) 2005–2007: Jiang Qiuyan (CHN) 2009: Olga Mikhaylova (RUS) 2011: Julia Takacs Nyerges (ESP) 2013–2015: Anisya Kirdyapkina (RUS)

Finnish Sportswoman of the Year

Kerttu Pehkonen (1947)
Sylvi Saimo (1948)
Eevi Huttunen (1949)
Sylvi Saimo (1950)
Eevi Huttunen (1951)
Sylvi Saimo (1952)
Eevi Huttunen (1953)
Siiri Rantanen (1954)
Mirja Hietamies (1955)
Siiri Rantanen (1956)
Iris Sihvonen (1957)
Siiri Rantanen (1958)
Siiri Rantanen (1959)
Eevi Huttunen (1960)
Mirja Lehtonen (1961)
Maire Rautakoski (1962)
Mirja Lehtonen (1963)
Kaija Mustonen (1964)
Maire Lindholm (1965)
Eila Pyrhönen (1966)
Eija Krogerus (1967)
Kaija Mustonen (1968)
Marjatta Kajosmaa (1969)
Marjatta Kajosmaa (1970)
Marjatta Kajosmaa (1971)
Marjatta Kajosmaa (1972)
Mona-Lisa Pursiainen (1973)
Riitta Salin (1974)
Helena Takalo (1975)
Helena Takalo (1976)
Lea Hilokoski (1977)
Helena Takalo (1978)
Outi Borgenström (1979)
Hilkka Riihivuori (1980)
Hilkka Riihivuori (1981)
Hilkka Riihivuori (1982)
Tiina Lillak (1983)
Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi (1984)
Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi (1985)
Marjo Matikainen (1986)
Marjo Matikainen (1987)
Marjo Matikainen (1988)
Marjo Matikainen (1989)
Päivi Alafrantti (1990)
Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi (1991)
Marjut Lukkarinen (1992)
Sari Essayah (1993)
Sari Essayah (1994)
Sari Laine (1995)
Heli Rantanen (1996)
Raija Koskinen (1997)
Satu Pusila (1998)
Tuuli Matinsalo (1999)
Pia Sundstedt (2000)
Pirjo Manninen (2001)
Heli Koivula (2002)
Hanna-Maria Seppälä (2003)
Tanja Poutiainen (2004)
Tanja Poutiainen (2005)
Tanja Poutiainen (2006)
Virpi Kuitunen (2007)
Satu Mäkelä-Nummela (2008)
Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (2009)
Minna Kauppi (2010)
Kaisa Mäkäräinen (2011)
Tuuli Petäjä-Sirén (2012)
Tuula Tenkanen (2013)

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