ESPN's Rick Reilly files a stomach-churning account of his participation in the 2007 Sauna World Championships in Heinola, Finland. One of two Americans in the competition, Reilly witnessed otherwise sane adults (including him) subjecting their body to horrible torture, resulting in burns and blisters:
"Dude, were you breathing through your nose?" I asked.
"Yeah, why?" he said.
"Your skin is all gone under your nose! It's burned off!"
He felt his upper lip in horror. He ran to the mirror. The tops of his ears were split open and bubbling. Under his arms and on his back were bright purple patches. His forehead was painted bright red and blistering in front of his eyes. "Man, I'm burning up. Even my tongue is burned." His wife begged him to quit, but he refused. Said he had trained too hard. She shook her head.
For the record, I've paid a few visits to the Finnish Society for the Preservation of Sauna Culture in Helsinki — delightful, traditional wood-fired saunas on an icy Baltic Sea inlet, and it was nothing like this (I even did the avanto, jumping into the frozen sea in the middle of the winter and then going back into the sauna — man, that lets you know you're alive!).
(Thanks, Fipi Lele!)
(Image: Heini Hiltunen)
