Top sports | Jan Vapaavuori strongly defends the Olympic selections

Tennis ball get a ride when Jan Vapaavuori whip it into flight on the mass field in Hanko.

The chairman of the Finnish Olympic Committee has taken a well-deserved summer vacation, but one cannot talk about an actual summer vacation in a position of trust.

The phone rings at a steady pace, but the chairman only has to interfere with the operational side of the Olympic Committee from time to time, even though the Paris Olympic Games are otherwise pressing. He himself is going to Paris to watch Finnish athletes.

Vapaavuori has had time to think about Finnish top sports, its future and the Olympics.

Finland there are 57 athletes in the Olympic team. Finland got some of the places when the Olympic committees of other countries failed to select otherwise eligible athletes, such as in athletics and golf.

Free mountain says he stands behind the Olympic selection. The Olympic Committee selected all the athletes who met the criteria and achieved an Olympic place.

“We want to act athlete-oriented and support the opportunities of Finnish athletes to compete in prestigious international competitions and to achieve their own dreams in sports. Athletes work for years or even tens of years to achieve an Olympic spot,” says Vapaavuori.

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“With the legalization of elite sports, this is also becoming a more relevant question than before.”

In some countries, such as Holland, England and partly also in Sweden, the prerequisite for an Olympic place is that the athlete could reach the top 16 in their sport.

“If we had the same policy, it would not be appropriate for athletes to participate in many sports, even in the Olympic qualifiers. There would be no sense in that.”

Free mountain reminds us that today’s top athletes are mainly professionals, whose professional pursuits can be questionable by not choosing to do so.

It could follow that the athlete would complain to the Sports Legal Protection Board, as in Sweden and the Netherlands, the selection issues in question have already been legally challenged.

“With the legalization of elite sports, this is also becoming a more relevant question than before.”

Finland the Olympic Committee has received criticism that it no longer defends elite sports in the same way as before.

Elite sports is one of the Olympic Committee’s three priorities, along with an active lifestyle and club and organization activities.

Vapaavuori responds to the criticism that the Olympic Committee specifically wants to proudly defend elite sports and its funding.

“Just like the funding of art, music and other culture is taken for granted as part of modern society. Sports success must also be viewed as an investment in the functioning of a vibrant society,” Vapaavuori says during a break in the tennis game.

“In a difficult world, we need experiences and things that unite Finns, where sport has a lot to offer as a source of joy and inspiration.”

He points out that Finland differs from other Nordic countries that do better in terms of elite sports in the form of smaller resources, but also in terms of a weaker culture of working together.

“We still need to substantially strengthen cross-species cooperation, e.g. in coaching, and resolutely fight against sport envy and the distortions it creates.”

This is an example of something that, in Vapaavuori’s opinion, does not progress sufficiently through sports, clubs and individual athlete-coach pairs, but requires determined, centralized management.

“This is linked to how I would like to develop our elite sports system and the role of the Olympic Committee in it.”

But what have been the key measures in promoting elite sports?

“From the point of view of elite sports, it is vital that we have as broad a base as possible of self-care, healthy and fit young people, from which our future elites are selected,” says Vapaavuori.

“We have also renewed the management system and accountability program of the elite sports unit, developed the academy network, invested in the development of expertise and digitalization, and secured funding for elite sports in Finland, especially during the corona period, as well as internationally.”

Vapaavuori emphasizes that the Olympic Committee has strictly defended the competitive opportunities of Finnish athletes, for example, in a situation where Russia and Belarus are constantly trying to influence international sports, even though the countries are excluded from it.

Often hears it being said that the money intended for elite sports should be put directly to the athletes and clubs, and not to sports federations or the Olympic Committee.

What do you think about this and what would result from it?

“If this were to be done, participation in international activities and also national-level competition activities from Finland in its current form would cease. There are many things that no single club or athlete can take care of themselves.”

Vapaavuori lists maintenance of competition systems, national team activities, training, rules, license system, cross-sport cooperation and information sharing, and statistics as such things.

“When certain services are organized centrally, it is guaranteed to be more cost-effective than if everyone procures them themselves at their own expense. All this is the ‘administration’ that is often frowned upon, but in fact it is necessary to maintain the elite sports system as it is today.”

Vapaavuori states that all of Finland’s reference countries, such as Sweden, have a strong central sports organization with a wide field of tasks.

Will you So the Olympic Committee increases decision-making power in relation to the financing and structures of Finnish elite sports?

“We are the central organization and service organization for Finnish exercise and sports. The highest decision-making power is exercised by our members, i.e. Finnish sports and sports organizations. We ourselves don’t want any bigger role than what our membership wants to give us.”

“However, we want to develop the structures of exercise and sports in a direction that would produce better results. This is also widely expected from us.”

The situation is special in that the Olympic Committee is responsible for the strategy of Finnish physical activity and sports, but the most important tool, i.e. money, is hardly there for its guidance.

The Ministry of Education and Culture is responsible for a large part of the money flows for sports and physical activity, which also has significant power over elite sports.

Vapaavuori admits that the relationship with the ministry is quite tense, as is the case with top sports assessment as well a couple of years ago you photographed.

“The biggest challenges are at the strategic level, but fortunately this does not interfere too much with grassroots cooperation, which mostly works well.”

Vapaavuori according to this, it is above all about the fact that the management of resources and operations are in different organizations: the Olympic Committee is also managed with the logic of non-governmental organizations and the ministry with the logic of authorities.

Because of this, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to build an intact, uniform whole.

“In Finland, non-governmental organizations are not as independent from the government as perhaps they should be. Especially if they are supposed to be responsible for sporting success.”

Olympic Committee the presidency is the seat of one Olympiad, which lasts four years. The next presidential election is in the fall.

The official goal of the ongoing Olympics is ten medals. Eight of them have already been received from the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.

So Finland is aiming for two medals in Paris, the same number as in the 2021 corona-era Olympic Games in Tokyo.

How much will the results of the Paris Olympics affect your desire to continue as chairman?

“Of course, it will be a big disappointment if we don’t succeed in our goal of two medals. On the other hand, if we succeed better than the goal, I would not consider it my own merit. The question of the chairmanship of the Olympic Committee is a much broader and more multidimensional matter than the success of Paris,” Vapaavuori says and continues the game – that is, the tennis game.