On 11 October 2008, Terho became the first women's hockey player to have her Buckeye number retired.[7] 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. She was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame on 25 September 2009.[8][9]
Espoo Blues, 2004–2007
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). With the Espoo Blues she won three Finnish Championship bronze medals (1997, 1998, and 2006).[10]
Terho returned to the Espoo Blues after the 2007-08 season in Russia. 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.[12]
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. She was selected to the Media All-Star team at the 2008 tournament.[14]
Sports administration
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). In 2006, after graduating and returning to Finland to play in the Naisten SM-sarja, she became a member of the Finnish Olympic Committee. 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.[15] 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.[16]
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.[17]
Terho's mother is Vappu Viertola and her father is Jukka Laaksonen [fi], 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.[21] 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.[22]
Most power play goals (3), Ohio State vs. Wayne State on 2 March 2001 – tied for first with six other players: Brigette Lacquette, Nadine Muzerall, Bobby Ross, Melanie Salatino, Laura Slominski, and Blayre Turnbull
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