According to Heikkinen, the Olympic Committee aims to secure the preparation of top athletes for next year’s World Championships in Trondheim and the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.
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Jarmo Nuotio
Director of the elite sports unit of the Finnish Olympic Committee Matti Heikkinen believes that the dark financial situation of the Ski Association is “an equation that can be solved”.
The Ski Federation cannot promise ski jumping and combined athletes any kind of national team-led training activities during the training season. The contracts of the national ski team’s coaches are also on hold.
The Olympic Committee has a responsibility to help medal hopefuls in a difficult situation, says Heikkinen.
– Skiing sports are nationally important. From an elite sports perspective, cross-country skiing is our top sport. In that sense, we have a direct, operative task and responsibility, Heikkinen told Urheilu in connection with the sports event organized in Vuokatti.
According to Heikkinen, the Olympic Committee aims to secure the preparation of top athletes for next year’s World Championships in Trondheim and the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.
Heikkinen reminds that the Olympic Committee has cooperated with the Ski Federation in many ways for a long time.
– In that sense, we provide support and help in both good and more challenging times. As I already stated yesterday: we don’t forget the athletes.
– It is good to remember the everyday life of athletes and try to promote things with all available means and resources. We have to remember the raw legality of top sports, that top sports are done with the chips we have.
Shared responsibility
Especially ski jumping and combined have suffered from the weak economic situation, and their success in recent years has been weaker than cross-country skiing. Heikkinen reminds that in elite sports, the results determine the available benefits, and calls for joint responsibility.
– At the moment, the world is testing society more broadly, and elite sports are one part of society.
– It’s part of our culture and in that sense it’s very important to look in the mirror – whether it’s an individual athlete or a trustee – and think about what you can do about it, so that you can move forward in a solution-oriented way. I refer especially to our most experienced guard that it is more important to interact than to leak.
Heikkinen emphasizes that the difficult economic situation of skiing is part of the current economic situation, which touches every Finn in some way.
– Top sport is not an isolated island. Yes, we are looking at the whole of Finnish elite sports at how the cuts will be targeted in the coming autumn. We hope for a very careful consideration, that happy moments can be made in markets, markets and near the television stands, also with regard to top sports, with public funds.