Finnish para-elevation sports became familiar on Tuesday at an audience event in the heart of Helsinki, where the preliminaries of the Paralympic Games, which will start in Paris next week on Wednesday, August 28, were primed.
Although the general look of the information session was happy, sunny and hopeful, behind the scenes in Finnish para sports real moments are being experienced and the general mood is different.
Finland’s all-time brightest para athlete, wheelchair curler Leo-Pekka Tähti as well as also Toni Piispanen are ending their top sports careers. In Athens in 2004, the Finnish para team still had 86 athletes. Finland will send a team of 16 athletes to Paris.
Leo-Pekka Tähti has hinted to Urheilu that less than ten Finnish para athletes may be seen in Los Angeles in four years.
“There is not enough funding, that is the biggest problem”
Defending Finland’s paratable tennis reputation in Paris Only Tapola is genuinely concerned about the current situation.
– Internationally, the level has risen a lot and continues to rise. Para sports are done professionally and are paid abroad. The systems abroad are much more developed than in Finland.
– In practice, we have no system of any kind to support athletes. And the athletes are quite alone, and there is no long-term work, Tapola knows.
Tapola says directly that the situation is really good for him when he has the team and managers behind him. In the equation, everyone worked hard.
– There is not enough funding. That’s the biggest problem (in para sports).
What quick actions could be taken in Finland in a difficult situation?
– We don’t really have new athletes in para sports. There are so few disabled people in Finland that we cannot get a bigger system here that would produce new athletes all the time, lists Tapola.
According to Tapola, investments should be made in individual, new and potential young people.
– At the moment, the athlete only gets support when he is already at the top. Before this, you have to manage on your own. Support should be available right there at the beginning of the sports path, emphasizes Tapola.
The 2022 World Championship silver medalist and 2023 European Championship bronze medalist is aiming for a medal in Paris. However, Tapola has to compete in the Paralympics in the same series with athletes with a milder disability.
Chairman: Cooperation between sport federations is a key point
Chairman of the Finnish Paralympic Committee Sari Rautio admits that there is cause for concern because of the current situation.
– Of course, this is something we are worried about. And not only to be worried, but we have started to take measures about it.
According to Rautio, on an individual level, more needs to be done on the athlete path in order to get more young athletes involved.
– The special feature of para sports is that the athlete’s path can start at a slightly later stage, for example after someone is injured. In that way, we must be able to be alert throughout the journey of the life cycle.
– The cooperation of sports federations is the key. That is what we definitely want to focus on in para sports, emphasizes Rautio.
For the first time in Finland, three riders will participate in the games.
– We haven’t had any teams in the last Paralympics, nor now. We want to invest in goalball, and we have done so in order to continue to have a men’s and women’s team, as was the case in the past, says Rautio.
What will the Finnish team of 16 para athletes be like in Paris?
– Excellent. It’s not a terribly big team, but everyone has a chance to succeed and do their best in the games. The group has good experience and then there are first timers. Good gang, enthuses the chairman.
Piispanen: An extensive report is expected in the fall
Wheelchair bowler Toni Piispanen has a master’s degree in physical education. Nowadays, he works at the Ministry of Education and Culture, the State Sports Council.
– The current situation is important. The Ministry of Education and Culture in its State Sports Council has been awakened to this issue some time ago. As a result, after the Games, we will publish a broader assessment of the organization and state of parasports in Finland, says Piispanen.
Piispanen hopes that, based on the evaluation report, the proposals will be implemented as quickly as possible, so that they could have an impact on the 2028 Paralympics at best, but at least after that.
Defending the Tokyo 200-meter Paralympic gold and 100-meter Paralympic silver in the T51 class, the track curler will compete in Paris in the fourth and last Paralympics of his career.