OKM’s athletes’ scholarship list was dominated by runners who achieved strong results last summer. Express trips do not seem to be popular with today’s voters, writes Petri Hänninen.
16.2. 19:12•Updated 16.2. 19:53
Athletes’ scholarship decision-makers do not know how to appreciate sprinting, one of the toughest sports in the world. This can be concluded based on Wednesday’s scholarship news.
Beanie Samuel Purola set a new 200 meter Finnish record of 20.45 last summer. In addition, he competed in the semi-finals of the European Championship on that trip. These merites did not open the wallets of the grant selectors.
Samuli Samuelsson broke the 21-year-old 100-meter Finnish record and set a Finnish top score of 10.16, with which he made it to the European Championships. He didn’t get a grant either.
You have to remember that 100 meters is one of the world’s most popular and competitive individual sports. It should also be taken into account when making decisions, even if the mentioned times do not match the world rankings.
Based on the grant decisions presented by the Olympic Committee’s top sports unit and blessed by the Ministry of Education and Culture, the recent Finnish records for short distances have no value. Apparently you can throw them in the scrap bin.
Superlupaus Purola was still on the list of grant recipients in 2019, but a few challenging years knocked him out. Last summer, the Oulu native gave strong performances and got back on his own development curve.
In the evaluation criteria for the 6,000 euro grant, there is a mention of “will be evaluated as merit competition winners in the future”, whatever that means.
The scholarship list can accommodate a large number of ball sports athletes who are unknown to the general public. Without taking anything away from the yellow, one 22-year-old sprinter Purola, who has his best years ahead of him, should also have fit there.
Samuelsson’s development has also taken huge steps forward. With a time of 10.16, there is a chance to reach the top 16 of the European Championship, even to the final. An improvement of a few hundredths would put him in the top ten in Europe.
Also a SE woman in the 100m hurdles Annimari Korte and the pioneer of hurdles Nooralotta Neziri were left without a grant. Both women have suffered injuries. At least it shouldn’t be a reason for disqualification from grants.
Endurance runners who made great record improvements last summer Eveliina Määttänen mixed Camilla Richardson probably shook their fists when they saw the negative support decisions for them.
The size of the grant can be 20,000, 10,000 or 6,000 euros. Of these, even the smallest tax-free amount is worth its weight in gold to an athlete. In Finland, the basic costs of living have risen insanely within a year.
During last year’s grant distribution, someone with an idea from the Olympic Committee came up with an upper age limit of 25 years for the 6,000 euro grant athletes. The lowest amount has been completely profiled as an aid amount for young athletes only.
With this line, Samuelsson (27), as well as Korte (34) and Neziri (30) have been dropped this year as well. Ageism?
A sprinter Merlene Ottey grabbed 2 Olympic medals while still 40 and a hurdler Felix Sanchez won Olympic gold at the age of 34. Experience also brings wisdom in training.
The big personnel changes in OK’s elite sports unit happened exactly at the point when grant decisions were being processed. How much of an impact has this had? Hard to say. As you know, there were more changes to the shows than there have been in a long time.
It hasn’t been many years since the beeper Reetta Hurske and a javelin thrower Lassi Etelätalo were dropped from scholarships. Now Hurske is breaking Finnish records in the indoor arena. Etelätalo, on the other hand, threw the javelin fourth in the WC final and bronze in the EC final. Grant decision-makers are certainly not always anything like the clairvoyants of yesteryear Aino Kassisen level predictors.
Hopefully, the track and field athletes left off the list will show with their results in the future that the decision-makers were wrong.
Story edited on 16.2. at 19:50: It is specified in the title that the decision on grants is made by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
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