Finnish athletes at Winter Olympics fighting stress with knitting

The Finnish team has explained what exactly they are doing with their knitting needles at the Winter Olympics. Photo / Twitter

Finnish Olympic athletes at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang are becoming internet sensations not so much for their athletic performances but for their old school way of dealing with the stress of the competition.

The team from Finland has been photographed numerous times with their knitting needles on hand during the games, much like they had already done at the 2014 games in Sochi.

The team did not keep the reasons behind the knitting a mystery and, as social media users began wondering what kind of sports strategy this could be, the official Twitter account for the team cleared things up.

We are #knitting again 😀 In Sochi we made a huge scarf, this time we are knitting a blanket for our presidential couple’s newborn son. 💙🇫🇮#olympicteamfi #knittingteamfi #pyeongchang2018 #olympics #olympialaiset #pyeongchangfi pic.twitter.com/mwKLgh1h2j

— Olympic Team Finland (@OlympicTeamFI) February 12, 2018

Back in 2014, the team knitted a scarf to hand over to the country's summer Olympic team for the 2016 games in Brazil.

This time they have revealed they are all knitting squares that they will combine to make up a blanket for the Finnish President's child.

"I mean I do it every four years ... it is a nice, Finnish thing ... it means no unnecessary chit-chat is needed," Antti Koskinen, head coach of the country's snowboarding team explained, speaking to Reuters.

"Everyone is knitting a little square, and then we will join them together."

President Sauli Niinisto's wife Jenni Haukio gave birth to the couple's first child on 2 February 2.