Matti Rajakylä (born August 14, 1984, in Kirkkonummi, Finland) is a former freestyle and butterfly swimmer from Finland. He has held several Finnish national records in both long course and short course. He participated in the Summer Olympics in Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
Rajakylä's achievements include the bronze in the 50 m freestyle at the European Junior Championships in Linz, Austria in 2002, the bronze in the 4×50 m medley relay at the European Short Course Swimming Championships in Wien, Austria in 2004 and the bronze in the 50 m butterfly at the European SC Championships in Trieste, Italy in 2005 with a time of 23.17.Information booklet on all Finnish swimmers who took part in the European LC Championships in Budapest 2006 (in Finnish) Rajakylä finished third in the semi-finals of 50m butterfly at the European LC Championships 2006 in Budapest, Hungary, but was left on sixth position in the finals.Men's 50m Butterfly Results
In December, at the European Short Course Swimming Championships 2006 in Helsinki, Finland, Rajakylä managed to achieve silver medal status in the men's 4 x 50m medley relay.Men's 4x50m Medley Results He came in last in each of his personal finals.Omega Timing site (1) Omega Timing site (2) Omega Timing site (3)
In April 2009 Rajakylä announced that he quits his swimming career.
Records Rajakylä has hold Finnish national records in following events:
DistanceEventTimeLocationDate50 m (lc)Freestyle 22.48Beijing, ChinaAugust 14, 200850 m (sc)Freestyle 21.70Trieste, ItalyDecember 8, 2005100 m (sc)Freestyle 48.05 SeinäjokiJuly 4, 200850 m (sc)Butterfly 23.17Trieste, ItalyDecember 11, 20054 x 50 m (sc)Freestyle Relay1:26.68 Dublin, IrelandDecember 14, 200310 x 50 m (sc)Freestyle Relay4:02.02HelsinkiMarch 21, 20044 × 200 m (sc)Freestyle Relay7:26.59JyväskyläJuly 5, 20074 x 50 m (sc)Medley Relay1:34.95HelsinkiDecember 7, 2006
Rajakylä has also set the world record for the 24-hour swim along with other Finnish swimmers in September 2005.
Personal life After his retirement from the sport, Rajakylä met Indian Hindu spiritual leader Amma in Finland in 2009, which led him to live in an ashram in Kerala, India, from six to nine months per year from 2011 to 2017. Rajakylä works as a swimming coach, and he lives in Santa Cruz, California, with his American wife whom he had met in the ashram.
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