The young 7-match star was rudely excluded from the big scholarship in the consideration of the Olympic Committee. My sports association took it for granted that Vanninen’s screens are easily enough for 20,000 euros. We passed by on old sea routes.
The umbrella organization of Finnish athletics, Urheiluliitto, took it for granted that the four-time winner of the 7-match youth competition Saga Vanninen20, would receive the largest possible sports grant of 20,000 euros from the Ministry of Education and Culture for the year 2024.
The native of Tampere finished 9th in last season’s world statistics, just over 100 points from third place, was also 9th at the World Championships in Budapest and won the under-22 European Championship gold in Espoo. Vanninen is one of the most talented Finnish athletes in his age group, considering all sports.
When the Sports Confederation prepared its own ranking of the recipients of a large grant for the preparatory body, i.e. the Olympic Committee’s elite sports unit, Vanninen was only a pole vaulter in 5th place Wilma Murtoa javelin thrower Oliver Helandera pot thrower Silja Kosonen and a walker Aku Bearden.
The shock was great
The shock was great in the union when the Ministry of Education said at the end of January, to whom the grants had been awarded and in what size category. The Olympic Committee’s elite sports unit had drawn up its own ranking, in which it had put Vanninen first Raitanen’s top, Lassi Etelätalo and Kristiina Mäkelänwhose last season was very weak from an international point of view.
The proposals of the elite sports unit change very rarely in the Ministry of Education, and thus Vanninen was the first track and field athlete without a large grant, to 10,000 euros.
None of those raised in his top sports unit advanced from the qualification to the final competition at the WC Budapest. Mäkelä was 47th in last season’s world statistics, Raitanen 48th and Etelätalo, who turns 36 on May Day, 22nd.
Vanninen received the same grant as, for example, a javelin thrower Anni-Linnea Alanena pot thrower Aaron Kangasa high jumper Ella Junnila and a pole vaulter Elina Lampela.
Director of coaching and training of the sports association Jarkko Finni frankly admits that the coffee went down the wrong throat when the ministry announced the grants.
Careful ranking
– If I tell my personal view, amazement and surprise, yes, you can use that term on an emotional level. The sports association ranking was very carefully GM Jani Tanskanen managed, and Saga certainly met every criterion for a major grant.
The Sports Association had ranked Raitanen 6th after Vanninen, Etelätalo 7th and Mäkelä 9th. A hurdler went between Etelätalo and Mäkelä Viivi Lehikoinen.
A total of 20 of the biggest grants were awarded in different sports. They belong to athletes who are operating at the international top and who might win a medal at the next Olympic Games. Previously, the applicant’s exceptionally young age could also be taken into account in the consideration, but this criterion was removed in 2023.
Finni, a former representative level 10 athlete (Helsinki European Championship 1994), emphasizes that he does not under any circumstances criticize any recipient of a large grant.
Two exceptional cases
– But it is worth bringing up in the discussion that there is always a complaint about the fact that our young value competition winners do not break in the general series when they are young. Well, now we have two such very exceptional cases, namely Silja (Kosonen, 21 years old) and Saga, who are doing sports at the global top while still being in the youth competition age. Perhaps the criteria could be considered at this point.
Ministerial the grant conditions take into account only on a global level, i.e. the Olympic and World Championships in athletics, but Finni doubts whether this is followed quite literally.
Raitanen’s, Mäkelä’s and Etelätalo’s big scholarships after a weak last year can certainly be largely explained by the fact that each of them won a medal at the European Championships in Munich 2022. At the same year’s World Championships in Eugene, Etelätalo was 6th and Mäkelä 9th; Raitanen, who finished eighth in the 2021 Olympic finals in Tokyo, ran only the heat in Eugene.
– If this has been the case, that European maritime customs are also taken into account, then of course that’s fine. But if grants are also distributed next year according to the proven potential for success, then we could certainly look to the future as well. There are only 4.5 years to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The scholarship system is excellent and vital for individual sports in Finland, but it has been very similar for a long time. Maybe a little update would be in order, says Finni.