A book review of “The Tallinn Terminator – Olev Annus’s Story”: an Estonian who settled in Finland reached the very top of the world as a bodybuilder, winning both the amateur World Championship gold and the pros’ Mr. Universe title. The 273-page biography covers everything — from Spetsnaz training all the way to sex.
A book review that is honest from the start
Finnish journalist Sami Lotila writes well. The very first chapter sets the imagination racing: young Annus serves in the Soviet army’s Spetsnaz special forces and learns there everything needed to neutralize an enemy.
Lotila quotes a scene from a shooting exam: “The pointed bullets Olev fired crashed into the targets, which fell over. He was a good enough marksman even in the dark.” But barracks life wasn’t everything. Annus was also a proper street brawler who mercilessly knocked his opponents senseless.
To the former top bodybuilder’s credit, he doesn’t flatter himself in the book. One of the first memories from Tallinn’s Sõbra Street: four- or five-year-old Olev pounds the skinny body of a smaller boy with his fists. “Thump, thump. The boy howled in pain and perhaps in shame, but Olev didn’t let up.” Biographies don’t usually admit things like this.
Childhood in Tallinn: hunger and the nomenklatura
Annus’s childhood was far from a treat. After his parents split up, he had almost no relationship with his biological father, who liked a drink. He got along much better with his stepfather.
“Sometimes Olev was literally hungry, or at least had to go to bed with a rumbling stomach,” writes Lotila. The family’s mother worked as a weaver by day and did knitting at home in the evenings, but money was still tight, and before payday they had to borrow from the sisters upstairs.
For the younger generation, the book offers an honest picture of life in the Estonian SSR. Even as a child, Olev found it unjust that working people couldn’t afford food or clothing while the nomenklatura had their own shops and hospitals. His choice: hunger rather than the Communist ideal.
There is mischief, too. Once Olev and his sister built an ice rink on a rug — leftover mashed potato from a saucepan was smeared on the rug, and the track was ready. “With a proper run-up it was surprisingly slippery and let you slide the whole length of the rug.”
The book review puts private life under the microscope, too
Annus takes the reader into his bedroom several times and frankly admits that he didn’t get enough sex from his Estonian wife. Half-jokingly: they did it twice at any rate, because they have two daughters.
“Olev, a young man full of vitality, was soon also troubled by the fact that sex held little interest for his young bride. Once in a blue moon Mare let her husband come closer, but she was grumpy. ‘Well, make it quick.’” Annus was bewildered and couldn’t understand his wife’s feelings.
Naturally, plenty of eye-catching women circled the rising star. There is enough flirting and cheating in the book. Still, bodybuilding came first — everything else got its share when there was time.
The book review follows him to the top in Finland and the world
Lotila describes Annus’s workouts in detail, with barbells bowing under the iron. Three things were behind the top bodybuilder’s success: good genetics, smart training and brutal diets that only a few people are able to endure.
The journey to Finland is examined thoroughly as well. The fight with the KGB, the letter to Leonid Brezhnev and the fictitious marriage to a Finnish woman have been covered before, but the book dwells on the details far more precisely. It also states outright that in the USSR, Annus enjoyed privileges thanks to his connections. He didn’t move to Finland in search of a better life — his goal was to reach the title competitions, which were otherwise out of reach from behind the Iron Curtain.
Towards the end, Annus lands a verbal uppercut on several former colleagues and sports officials. All in all, “The Tallinn Terminator” is a pleasure to read. The ordinary reader who appreciates spicy episodes and colorful stories gets their share, too.
FAQ
Who wrote the book?
Finnish journalist Sami Lotila. The Estonian translation was published as a 273-page volume titled “The Tallinn Terminator – Olev Annus’s Story”.
Who is this book for?
Definitely for bodybuilding and strength sports enthusiasts, but also for those who appreciate honest biographies. Readers who love spicy episodes from private life and the history of the Estonian SSR will get their share, too.
How does this book differ from an ordinary athlete biography?
Annus doesn’t hide the darker sides of his life — not from his childhood, his marriage or his Spetsnaz years. It is exactly this openness that makes the book readable even for those who aren’t into bodybuilding.
Come and train! ArtGym
