Cross-country skiing’s brightest superstar Johannes Hösflot Kläbo following a colorful summer, an American journalist gave more criticism to the management of the Norwegian Ski Association by Nathaniel Hertz in a podcast interview.
Kläbo has not been part of the Norwegian national team this summer, and the five-time Olympic champion still does not have a comprehensive representation contract with the federation for next season.
Norwegian newspaper VG reports Kläbo’s podcast comments spectacularly. Kläbo said directly that the Norwegian Ski Federation does not treat athletes well at the moment and the people of the federation are not open. Kläbo criticizes their values.
– They make really short-sighted decisions without thinking about the athlete. I feel that the athlete is at the bottom of the value scale, which I think is wrong, Kläbo uploaded.
Kläbo’s lawyer Pål Kleven had sent a letter to the country’s skiing association two days earlier. The letter stated that neither Kläbo nor the alpine skiing stars represented by Kleven Lucas Braathen and Alexander Aamodt Kilde not entering into an athlete contract. The federation and the athletes have not reached an agreement on the athletes’ marketing rights.
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Kläbo said in the podcast that he hopes not to have to refuse the national team again in the future. He considers the national team a good thing.
– But I think it would be important for the athletes to be prioritized and for the federation and the federation’s leaders to incorporate a little more of these values into their thinking at work, the 26-year-old skiing star expressed his feelings.
Already in the spring, the federation’s national team selections caused a stir in Norway. Over the course of the summer, Kläbo has been disappointed that his credit guardian did not by Frode Pedersen employment contract extended. In addition, Pedersen said to VGthat, among other things, there is an unhealthy work atmosphere in the ski team’s maintenance team.
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Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK interviewed on Friday, the leader of the Norwegian cross-country team, who will step down at the turn of the year Espen Bjervig. Bjervig hoped to meet Kläbo or his father, who acts as the skier’s manager, as soon as possible. Haakon Kläbo and the skiing star had just returned from a training camp in the United States.
Bjervig told NRK that Kläbo’s claims contained many things that were difficult to interpret.
– I want to discuss this directly with him to get an understanding of the statements.
Bjervig has said that they have a good communication with Kläbo. He previously stated to VG that he feels they agree on many things, but their perspective on many internal issues in Norwegian skiing is different.
About athletes
Kläbo said in the interview that it has long been important to him to promote the rights of athletes. Krista Pärmäkoski has been negotiating several athlete contracts as a manager Aki Pajunoja can see that Kläbo is currently pursuing a wider range of issues.
– He promotes the interests of all professional skiers. The brightest superstars have a big market value, so rights become a battle. In Finland, for example Iivo Niskanen has cleared the way for others as well, Pajunoja estimates.
– It has been heard between the lines that the status of an athlete is not valued in Norway, which is a big surprise, Pajunoja reflects on Kläbo’s exits.
He adds that the vast majority of skiers cannot act like Kläbo, because the World Cup competitions will be missed if there is no athlete contract with the federation. For skiers, the World Cup is, in team sports terms, the “club season”, when they earn their salary.
expert, former top skier Ville Nousiainen is on the same lines. He says that Kläbo is so successful that he can even publicly criticize the Norwegian Ski Federation. The situation is different for many less well-off people.
– The association could put the skier aside and say that you fight among yourselves, because there would be a dozen replacements of the same level in the country, Nousiainen opens.
According to him, athletes often have little leverage in contract negotiations if they want to practice their profession. The union has an advantage in the negotiations.
Kläbo’s absence from the World Cup would be a huge image loss for Norwegian skiing.
– Skiing has never had a superstar of Kläbo’s caliber before, that’s why the shock is unprecedented now, Pajunoja sums up.
There have been contract disputes in Finland as well
In Norway, Kläbo’s contract has been twisted before. In addition, Pajunoja highlights the former superstar by Petter Northug, who had a contract dispute with the Norwegian Skiing Association during his active years. Northug skied the World Cup with a representation contract that lasted the winter season.
Nousianen says that clauses in the agreements have been twisted in Finland as well. He gives an example of the national team’s sponsor positions. Nousiainen remembers from his active days that the athletes had to struggle to get their personal sponsor for their uniforms, even if not all the sponsor spots available for sale at the federation were booked.
– In the end, we were able to negotiate that we could put our own sponsor’s ad in the vacant place, Nousiainen says.
He adds that sometimes the signing of contracts has been very close to the beginning of the season for some athletes. In the end, the skiers have always been at the starting line when the season starts.
Pajunoja, who has worked as a skiing manager for a long time, says that there have been situations in contract negotiations where the federation and the athlete disagree on some issues. However, he says that after this, things have always been discussed.
He shares praise for the current executive director of the Finnish Ski Association Ismo Hämäläinen.
– He understands, wants to discuss and stimulate reflection on how to reach an agreement on issues, Pajunoja praises.
The athlete’s contract should serve both parties, which is why it is important that the athlete’s side and the union are represented in the negotiations.
– The previous line was perhaps that the agreement was more dictated by the union, Pajunoja reveals.
Will we see you at Kläbo Ruka?
In his podcast interview, Kläbo stressed that it is important for athletes to help the national team, for example, in various sponsored events. He said it feels good because it’s important.
– But it is also important that the federation understands that athletes also have some rights, and it is important for athletes to be able to do things based on their own values. Such things are important for me so that I can sign the contract, Kläbo added.
Nousiainen says that he is surprised that the Norwegian Ski Federation has not seemed to take the matter seriously. Kläbo already announced in the spring that he would be left out of the national team. Pajunoja thinks that the handling of the case in the media shows Kläbo’s frustration.
– Attempts have been made to fight against windmills for a long enough time, but the change has not taken place in the right direction, so the matter has been taken to the media for discussion, Pajunoja speculates.
He hopes for a solution to the matter. The training season is at its hottest, so skiers don’t need additional stressors either.
– I don’t think that any athlete enjoys such punishment. Or at least I haven’t met such a masochist, says Pajunoja.
Kläbo said in the interview that he wants to compete in the World Cup next season, but the back-up plan is to join the Northug Ski Classics stable for long-distance competitions, if an agreement with the federation is not reached.
– I expect Bjervig and other managers to have values behind which they would stand, Kläbo hoped in the interview.
Nousiainen and Pajunoja hint at the possibility of Ski Classics, but both believe that Kläbo will be seen in Ruka. Nousiainen says that a nine-time world champion is such a special case that the Vuono County Skiing Association forcibly twists the agreement during the fall. He believes the union will make some concessions.
Pajunoja sees that Kläbo increases the pressure of the ski association with the Ski Classics speculation. He does not believe in the realization of the serial exchange.
– I believe and hope that the parties will reach a solution.