The Inspector General of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Kari Niemi-Nikkola, admits that Vanninen’s grant was discussed at OKM.
Saga Vannisen fate has spoken since the summer scholarships for athletes awarded by the Ministry of Education and Culture were announced. Vaninen was awarded a grant of 10,000 euros, even though the umbrella organization of Finnish athletics, Urheiluliitto, considered a grant of 20,000 euros for the heptathlon’s super talent to be too much.
The discussion intensified over the weekend when Vanninen became the first Finnish woman to win a medal at the World Indoor Athletics Championships. Vanninen took silver in the pentathlon with a SE result.
The largest grant, i.e. 20,000 euros, is intended for “individual athletes of Olympic or Paralympic sports who are at the absolute and established international peak”. The athlete who receives the scholarship is evaluated as a potential medal athlete of the next Olympics or Paralympics.
The Olympic Committee’s top sports unit, which acts as OKM’s expert in the evaluation and consideration of coaching and training grants and makes presentations about grant recipients to OKM, considered Vanninen’s performance sufficient for a grant of only 10,000 euros.
Urheilu asked Heikkinen if the elite sports unit feels that there has been a misjudgment in the decision regarding Vanninen’s grant.
– This is based on discretion. In the case of saga, one must look at a longer historical development. In the last two years, Saga has received a grant of 10,000 euros, and two years before that, a young athlete’s grant, i.e. 6,000 euros, commented Heikkinen.
However, the final decisions are made by the Ministry of Education and Culture. According to Kari Niemi-Nikkola, Inspector General of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Vanninen’s situation was discussed both in OKM and with the Olympic Committee regarding OK’s presentation, as with other athletes.
– Regarding Vannine, the discussion took place specifically regarding the fulfillment of the criteria of 10,000 euros and 20,000 euros. In the end, the decision was clear: Vanninen meets the 10,000 euro but not the 20,000 euro grant criteria. Saga’s good development has been known to the federation, the Olympic Committee and OKM. Even the good success of young people in value competitions is not a criterion for a grant as such, Niemi-Nikkola communicates by email.
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According to Niemi-Nikkola, grant evaluation involves consideration, but the possibilities for consideration decrease as the amounts increase.
– The judgment cannot be used selectively or arbitrarily, but on an athlete-by-athlete basis so that the athlete’s level and results are related as versatile as possible to the sport’s international level and competition.
Changes have sometimes been made to the Olympic Committee’s proposal in the Ministry of Education and Culture, but in practice this rarely happens.
– If the view of the ministry or minister differs from the view of the Olympic Committee, the Olympic Committee’s proposal can be deviated from and has been done so. It can mainly be due to differences in the interpretation of the grant criteria.
Support in another form
Matti Heikkinen, head of the elite sports unit, reminds that the Olympic Committee has supported Vannis in many different forms over the past four years.
– By offering, among other things, individual support, Olympic solidarity support, coach support and various expert services. A rough estimate is that about 30,000 euros per year and more than 100,000 euros in the last four years, if you measure it in terms of money, have been allocated to Sagan too.
– If you want to call it a mistake that Saga didn’t get a big grant, then we have been able to cooperate in Finnish top sports with Sagan too. In that sense, we are very satisfied.
The amount of Olympic Solidarity support is $625 per month and the athlete can withdraw it against receipts. According to Heikkinen, the support in question has been paid to Vanni since the beginning of 2022.
– Support for athletes is made up of many different entities and it would be good to see what everyday life is made up of financially.
However, the head of the elite sports unit welcomes the discussion about grants.
– I feel that the discussion tells about two things: firstly, that Saga has made tremendously great achievements with his own everyday work and, with his own example, also raises the important topic of grants into the public discussion. The amount of public discussion shows that the grant has a huge importance in the everyday life of athletes.