Emma Terho

Emma Kristiina Laaksonen Terho (born 17 December 1981) is a Finnish ice hockey executive, retired defenceman and the current Chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission.

She previously served as general manager of Kiekko-Espoo Naiset in the Naisten Liiga.

Terho was born on 17 December 1981 in Washington, D.C., where her father had been invited to survey and improve nuclear safety in the United States following the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.

With the Espoo Blues she won three Finnish Championship bronze medals (1997, 1998, and 2006).

Terho's mother is Vappu Viertola and her father is Jukka Laaksonen (physicist), a physicist and leading expert in the fields of nuclear energy and radiation safety; he served as Director General of the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority during 1997 to 2012.

At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano she became the youngest Winter Olympian to medal for Finland, winning a bronze medal at the age of 16 years 54 days.

In the inaugural Olympic women's ice hockey tournament at the 1998 Olympics, she was the youngest player on the bronze medal winning Finnish team, at 16 years and 54 days.

In Finland she played with the Espoo Blues Naiset, with whom she won the Finnish Championship eight times (1999, 2000, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014, and 2015).

Terho played college ice hockey with the Ohio State Buckeyes women's ice hockey program while attending Ohio State University (OSU) during 2000 to 2004.

Terho also represented Finland at eight IIHF Women's World Championships, winning bronze medals at the tournaments in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2009, in addition to participating at the tournaments in 2001, 2005, 2007, and 2013.

In the 2001–02 season she was the first women's ice hockey player from Ohio State to earn All-American honors when she was named to the 2001–02 Jofa/American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) Second Team All-American and was a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Award.

Terho became involved in the administrative aspect of sport as a member of the Student Athlete Board during her junior and senior years at Ohio State University (2002–2004).

Terho holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Ohio State University (2004) and a Masters of Science in Economics from the Helsinki School of Economics at Aalto University (2013).

In 2006, after graduating and returning to Finland to play in the Naisten SM-sarja, she became a member of the Finnish Olympic Committee.

She began her career in finance while still an active ice hockey player, serving as a fixed income trader for Pohjola Bank from 2006 to 2013.

In the 2007–08 season Terho played in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia with SKIF of the Russian Women's Hockey League (RWHL).

Three other Finnish players, forwards Kati Kovalainen, Karoliina Rantamäki, and Nora Tallus, also played for SKIF in that season.

Terho returned to the Espoo Blues after the 2007-08 season in Russia.

On 11 October 2008, Terho became the first women's hockey player to have her Buckeye number retired.

The retirement ceremony occurred prior to an Ohio State vs. Purdue University football game at Ohio Stadium, where Terho was recognized on the field at the 50-yard line.

The team won the 2008 Russian Women's Hockey League Championship.

The 2008-09 season was very successful, both personally and for the team.

Terho set a career high for assists with 32 and ended the regular season with an impressive 34 points in just 19 games.

As a member of the Finnish national ice hockey team, Terho was a five-time Winter Olympian and two time Olympic bronze medalist.

She was selected to the Media All-Star team at the 2008 tournament.

She was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame on 25 September 2009.

She served as Finland's captain in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, at which she won her second Olympic bronze medal, and as an alternate captain in the women's ice hockey tournament at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

In 2011 as part of the IIHF Ambassador and Mentor Program (AMP) she became an Athlete Ambassador to Kazakhstan with the directive to use her experience at Olympic Games, World Championships, and other high level women's ice hockey programs to help build the women's game in her designated country.

As her playing career wound down, Terho ramped up her involvement in Finnish sports administration and became an influential and important player in that sphere.

They have two children, born in 2012 and 2014.

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Records valid through 2021–22 NCAA season.

Season

Beginning in 2014, Terho served as a product manager for fixed income products at OP-Pohjola Financial Group.

Her husband, Teemu Terho, also works in banking.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Terho was elected for an eight-year term as a member of the IOC Athletes' Commission, with the largest share of votes of all candidates put forward.

The election also made her an International Olympic Committee Member.

On 6 August 2021, at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Terho was elected as the new Chair of the IOC Athletes' Commission.

She replaced outgoing Chair Kirsty Coventry, who had served as Chair since 2018 and had remained in role for an additional year beyond her eight-year term to help maintain the IOC Athletes’ Commission's work during the COVID-19 pandemic, following the postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games.