In the practices of the Ministry of Education and Culture, putting a sports career on hold is likened to quitting. The Ministry is waiting for a notification from Maria Huntington if she plans to return at all.
Has faced great adversity in his sports career during the last two seasons Mary Huntington26, wrote last week on social media that he had lost his spark in top sports and that he would take his 7-match career on at least an indefinite break.
With his record series of 6339, created at the Kaleva Games in 2019, Huntington would be no less than 7th in the season’s world statistics. However, he has not completed a full match since the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games due to, among other things, injuries and illnesses.
This season, Huntington competed in May and early June in the hurdles and long jump. The man from Tampere, who has represented Finland in the heptathlon at the Olympic, World Cup and EC level, has not been able to get a result this season.
The activities of the Ministry of Education and Culture, which today pays grants to top athletes from budget funds, have been consistent when an athlete announces that he is ending his career. Confirmation of the information received, for example through the media, has been quickly obtained from the scholarship athlete, and the payment has been stopped.
Scoring potential
Huntington, who received a total of 30,000 euros in tax-free grants in previous years, was awarded 10,000 euros in the summer sports grant distribution in February, which is paid to him at a time of a generous 833 euros per month. Status requires that the athlete is seen as having at least point-scoring potential at the value competition level.
– In the eyes of the ministry, Huntington’s notification is comparable to quitting, and the practice is basically the same as for an athlete who quits, says the chief inspector Kari Niemi-Nikkola from the ministry.
Niemi-Nikkola emphasizes that the ministry always talks with the athlete before making any kind of decision.
– We are waiting for the athlete’s own announcement about suspending training. We also ask if he can say how temporary the situation might be.
The athlete must act quickly; the ministry does not wait for a month.
– Then we start to become active in the matter through the Olympic Committee or the Sports Federation, and we can also stop paying on our own initiative. We always want to be very reasonable and humane towards the athletes. But when public budget funds are dealt with transparently, it naturally only gives us a certain margin of maneuver.