The treatment of Camilla Richardsson, who ran the marathon SE, in the distribution of athlete grants is a parade example of how disproportionately the criteria treat different sports, writes Pekka Holopainen.
Pekka Holopainen sports reporter
Normally at this time of year, Finns are treated to top results in sports practiced on snow or ice, but what else. by Camilla Richardsson The great SE time of 2:24:38 in the marathon run in Valencia was even needed to absorb attention from the mainly rough early season of Finnish snow athletes.
Richardsson, who already improved his 10,000m SE time handsomely last season, moved the national record below the 2.25 level, which is considered tough even internationally, in this probably the most practiced form of athletics in the world.
In the all-time statistics, his ranking is now a modest-sounding 384th, but let’s compare it to the extent that around 270 runners born in the East African region can fit ahead.
Snow sports were also the word of the day last February 20, but just before the World Championships in Planica, the signee made a long phone call from the Warsaw airport to the outgoing top sports director of the Sports Federation Tuomo Salonen with. Salonen was enraged.
Riding the wind
Together with the staff of the Sports Association, he had prepared for the Olympic Committee’s elite sports unit a list of track and field athletes for whom the sports organization belonged to the Ministry of Education and Culture paid, tax-free athlete grant. Due to personnel changes and ongoing recruitments, the unit, which was in a state of flux, thoroughly upset the Sports Federation’s presentation. The unit even completely dropped the names presented by the union from the list and put new ones in their place.
One person who was completely dropped from the scholarships was Camilla Richardsson, who finished in the top ten on both long track distances at the 2022 European Championships in Munich.
For this, Salonen’s team had presented the middle grant, i.e. 10,000 euros, which, unfortunately, can have a revolutionary meaning in the real world of Finnish individual sports. Although Grant decisions are blessed by the ministry, it is practically a rubber stamp if the previous preparation is found to have been done carefully.
Not Roponen’s fault
The elite sports unit considered Richardsson worthy of its special individual support, but not a scholarship-level athlete. Now responsible for endurance running in the unit Toni Roponen did not affect the process, as he only started in the unit after the current year’s presentations had been made.
In any case, the pontificating view of the top sports individual was that Alisa Vainio the marathon view is worth a scholarship, Richardsson’s is not. The latter cut 2 minutes 48 seconds off the SE time of the former on Sunday.
If a Finnish track and field athlete is among the top 10 in his sport at the European Championships, he will almost automatically enjoy a grant of at least 10,000 euros, probably the largest, i.e., a pot of 20,000 euros.
However, in Richardsson’s previous and current journeys – in the 3000m steeplechase, 5000m and 10000m and the marathon – the reality is quite different. The biggest scholarship requires the performance of a potential Olympic medalist, the middle seam is to finish among the 16 in the global prestigious competition.
EC level does not weigh
Let’s state once again that such rankings are a bit different in endurance running than in so many other forms of athletics.
Richardsson is on a curve that can even take him to a very strong success in the last EC marathon in Birmingham 2026. However, the EC level is almost nothing in the Ministry’s grant criteria – which is frankly very unfair.
The sports federation has again hopefully submitted a proposal for scholarship athletes to the elite sports unit. He followed Salo as a top sports boss Jani Tanskanen assured Urheilu on Monday that Camilla Richardsson’s name is “high” on the list.
When the grant recipients are published, it is very interesting to see if it is even on that list in the first place.
Pekka Holopainen
The author is a columnist based in Pori and the only sports reporter who has been selected as Journalist of the Year in Finland.
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