The swimmer of the year, Veera Kivirinta, was only ranked 9th in the association’s scholarship ranking. Kivirinta’s main sport is not an Olympic distance, which is why she falls short in the scholarship system.
Specialized in 50 meter breaststroke Veera Kivirinna the year 2023 brought with it a semi-final place and 13th place in the long track World Championships in Fukuoka, and in addition, he finished fifth in the short track European Championships in Romania.
Better than Kivirinta, the swimmers in Fukuoka finished tenth in the 200-meter breaststroke in last year’s honors Matti Mattsson and fourth in Romania in the 200-meter butterfly Laura Lahtinen.
However, neither of them was as successful in both main races of the year as Kivirinta.
Kivirinna’s achievements were not rewarded with the Sports Journalist’s Association’s Swimmer of the Year award, but Uimaliitto saw the matter differently and awarded him last weekend with the traditional kiribell award, which is awarded to the swimmer of the year chosen by the association itself.
At the same time, Kivirinta was only ranked ninth in the federation’s internal ranking, on the basis of which the Finnish Olympic Committee makes its proposals to the Ministry of Education and Culture as recipients of athlete grants.
The matter is clear from the ministry’s documents obtained by Urheilu’s request for information.
The basis of the listing is success in Olympic trips
Kivirinta has never received an athlete grant during his career, so the decision to reject the 2024 application was not surprising.
The reason for this and previous years’ rejections has been the fact that the criteria for the 10,000-euro grant includes a requirement for success potential in Olympic sports, which does not include Kivirinna’s main sport, the 50-meter breaststroke.
For an individual athlete of a non-Olympic sport, it is possible according to the ministry grants a grant if the athlete is a medal candidate at the next World Championships in the sport.
The next World Swimming Championships will be held on the long track in Qatar from 11 to 18. in February, but the medal candidate Kivirinta is not in those games.
Executive director of Uimailiitto Pasi Salonen confirms that the emphasis in the league’s rankings has been on success in Olympic trips, which explains Kivirinna’s ranking.
Salonen emphasizes that the listing was made only for grant applications, and it has no other guiding significance in the association’s actions towards swimmers.
– The criteria of the Ministry of Education and Culture require that the athletes be put in order according to the Olympic journeys. Because of this, we have not been able to take into account Veera’s rankings in the 50-meter breaststroke, because it is not swum in the Olympics. That’s why Veera’s ranking had to be determined based on the 100-meter breaststroke, Salonen explains.
Kivirinta has also invested in 100 meters in the past, but the current life situation for Kivirinta, who has a dual career as a policeman and a swimmer, does not allow the necessary training for a distance longer than 50 meters.
The swimming association wants to discuss the criteria
The Finnish Olympic Committee forms a proposal for grant recipients to the Ministry of Education and Culture based on the lists of sports federations.
The Olympic Committee can make a presentation that deviates from the list, such as by nominating young and potential future value competition winners as scholarship recipients.
In the case of swimming, this applies, for example, to a pledge to swim who has just turned 18 Lunch Vegetablewho was awarded a grant of 6,000 euros, even though he only has one prestigious competition for adults behind him.
According to the grant documents, Kasvio was eighth in the association’s ranking, but in the Olympic Committee’s final presentation, he was moved up two ranks among the grant recipients.
According to Salonen, Uimaliitto could not influence the criteria on the basis of which the Olympic Committee made its presentation this year. Salonen says that he understands that a line has to be drawn somewhere, because the spectrum of sports is huge.
On the other hand, in addition to the freestyle sprint, which is already part of the Olympic program, the sprint distances of other swimming sports have established their position in value competitions, which is why the grant criteria would need to be reviewed.
– If you look at it purely through swimming goggles, then yes. But I understand that there are many athletes in the big picture and in that sense one sport cannot be taken into special scrutiny just because of this 50 meter distance.
– But there could certainly be a good discussion about how it would be possible for athletes from other sports and our sprint races to get scholarships in the future, Salonen concludes.