Track winder Esa-Pekka Mattila is one of the athletes who were not awarded an athlete grant from the Ministry of Education and Culture this year.
According to Mattila, the Sports Federation’s presentation to the Olympic Committee’s elite sports unit had included his name as the recipient of a 10,000-euro grant. the elite sports unit is responsible for preparing the final grant proposal for the ministry.
This time, however, the screens and sea rites were not enough.
Mattila, who competes in the T54 class, admits that he is disappointed, as the situation has a significant impact on his spring training and competition plans.
At stake are, among other things, the Swiss competition that has become a tradition and a camp coach Leo-Pekka Tähten in Spain. The star was awarded an athlete grant of 20,000 euros.
– Yes, this is going to be significantly more difficult, Mattila says.
According to Mattila, it is difficult to provide screens for the World Championships in Paris in Finland, because there are no competitions available in Finland until May. It should be possible to give evidence before June, as the team for the World Championships in Paris will be named already on May 29.
– Here you have to think about emphasis and preparation for value competitions.
Mattila, who represents Tapioi in Espoo, says that her career will last a couple of years at most. For this reason, the interest in becoming a part-time athlete does not excite Mattila. He is currently completing his final work at the Aalto University School of Economics.
– I have thought about becoming a full-time student and applying for a part-time or full-time job.
Mattila has finished ninth at the World Championship level at her best and has been to two Paralympics in her career.
World Cup silver medalist in table tennis Only Tapola is, on the other hand, satisfied with the grant of 10,000 euros he received. Through grants and partnerships, he is currently able to cover the expenses related to sports life.
– Things could certainly be better, but I’m quite satisfied with this situation, Tapola commented.
The decision on the reform was made at a challenging time
Significant changes were made to this year’s athlete grants. The grant of 6,000 euros was targeted as a grant for young people. The scholarship is therefore not awarded to athletes over the age of 26. Mattila, who received a grant of 6,000 euros last year, considers this justified.
However, in Mattila’s opinion, the decision made at the end of 2022 was problematic. Last season was a gap year from the prestigious competitions, which is why Mattila decided to make changes to training and competing. The screens would have been enough at least for 6,000 euros according to the previous criteria.
Now he should have aimed for a grant of 10,000 euros, for which his evidence was not sufficient.
– Shouldn’t we have focused on a single top result in the interim year instead of changes, because suddenly we had to aim for either 10,000 euros or nothing, Mattila states.
Mattila states that in many other subsidies granted by the state, the changes are made in such a way that an interim period is given to the change process.
Knowledge of species and classes is important
This year, 1.48 million euros were awarded in summer sports sports grants. Parasport’s share of the grants is 220,000 euros, which is 28,000 euros less than the previous year. A paratriathlete among the athletes who received a 20,000-euro athlete grant Liisa Lilja however, announced at the beginning of the week that he was ending his sports career due to kidney removal.
Both Mattila and Tapola criticized the decision-making related to grants. Mattilaa wonders with what competence the top sports unit makes changes to the sports federations’ presentations about athletes applying for scholarships. In his opinion, the sports federations have the best knowledge of the level, health and potential of the athletes of their own sport.
According to Mattila, decision-making and processes are not sufficiently transparent. In his opinion, the justifications coming from the ministry are too broad.
In Tapola’s opinion, the top sports unit does not have enough knowledge and expertise about different sports and athletes. For this reason, the challenge of decision-making is particularly evident in para sports.
– Knowledge of the species and classes is important so that the decisions are as fair as possible and in line with each other. Sometimes it seems that in some sports the criteria are much lower than in others.
Tapola did not want to comment on which sports in his opinion dominated the grant selections. However, he has heard from several parties that they are not satisfied with the decisions.
A more detailed list of para-athletes who have received an athlete grant can be found from here. (you switch to another service)
Rapid changes in criteria can cause big problems for an athlete
Mattila also serves as the chairman of the athletes’ committees of the Olympic Committee and the Paralympic Committee. He has already had time to discuss the matter with athletes and background actors.
According to him, it is good that the athletes have been critical and are provoking a discussion on the topic. According to Mattila, the matter will be taken up in the athletes’ committees.
– The elite sports unit and the ministry have not succeeded in their task, considering how much discussion has taken place on this issue.
According to Mattila, there have been significantly more correction requests than in previous years, and criticism has also clearly come from sports associations and not just purely from athletes.
Athletes are encouraged for long-term, goal-oriented and planned activities, but the distribution of grants in one season is of great importance. When the rules are changed quickly, it can cause big problems.
In para sports, the criteria are generally different.
– Merely breaking the limits is not enough to get to the Games. The success of the previous years’ World Championships is necessary to get national places.
Mattila has planned to prepare a rectification request regarding the grant matter.
“The ranking lists of sports associations are only one element in the preparation of the show”
Vice President of the Olympic Committee’s Elite Sports Unit (HUY). Leena Paavolainen sports federations do not make a presentation about the grant recipients, but the presentations are made by the elite sports unit.
The role of the sports federations in the process is to forward the ranking lists to the Olympic Committee, but the lists are only used as one element in the preparation of the show. The evaluation also uses data and results monitoring, as well as expert assessments from different fields about each athlete’s career and prospects for success.
The representatives of a single species have no information about the situation and overall situation of other species.
– The task of the top sports unit is to look at the whole formed by all sports in relation to the amount of money to be distributed, Paavolainen commented by email.
The last year of Finnish sports was successful on a wide front, which is why there are many athletes eligible for scholarships. However, the amount used for grants has remained the same every year.
– This year, in our performance, we had to raise the bar of different categories higher than before, Paavola says.
The Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for defining and renewing the criteria. Among other things, Pohja has a law on state subsidies. However, the elite sports unit has been involved as an expert in renewing and updating the grant criteria.
According to Paavolainen, the criteria are uniform, the same for everyone and can be seen in advance.
– If the athlete is not satisfied with his grant decision, he can complain about it to the ministry in accordance with good administrative practice.
Finland’s leading para sports experts have been working as part of the top sports unit since 2013. According to Paavolainen, they have ten years of data, monitoring and evaluation information on the situation and development of para sports and athletes.