IOC and Norwegian sports – The break came too late

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THE SPLIT at the top of Norwegian sports has consequences. More and more people see that it is necessary to limit it directly the influence to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Norway to take care of fundamental values ​​in our own sports movement.

Now sitting two IOC-loyal leaders on the board of the Norwegian Sports Confederation. Both have long worked for IOC President Thomas Bach’s desperate attempt to organize the most ordinary Summer Olympics possible middle below Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

This has created strong resistance in a movement that otherwise tries to keep Putin’s propaganda sport away, but has not succeeded any direct consequence for the IOC president’s Norwegian supporters.

That caution is partly due to regulations which ensures The IOC’s grip on Norwegian sports. At the Sports Council in a week and a half, these rules will be evaluated.

For this fundamental division in such an important matter, shows the seriousness of the conflict over the authoritarian, privately owned and controlled IOC’s power over the Norwegian sports movement.

TODAY’S rules give the IOC its Norwegian member, Kristin Kloster Aasen, permanent seat on the board of the Norwegian Sports Confederation. It is a consequence of the merger in 1996 between the Norwegian Sports Confederation and the Norwegian Olympic Committee.

At the same time, our top athletes have also been given a board seat. There have Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen sat for the last four years.

When, in the middle of this period, she was also elected as trustee for the international athletes, the sports community interpreted the rules so that this new IOC position meant that Jacobsen as Olympic trustee had to remain on the board regardless of what the Norwegian athletes thought.

It was a misunderstanding.

Cracks around her

THE OTHER DAY told Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen that she will retire as head of the Norwegian athletes’ committee. Instead, she continues as an elected IOC member.

The former cross-country star gave personal reasons for that priority, but the Norwegian sports movement had also spoken out:

• Some weeks for Uhrenholdt Jacobsen took the consequence of the dual role as both Norwegian and international athlete representative, the Swedish Sports Confederation had clarified that the IOC does not demanded that she continue.

Now the Norwegian athletes can freely choose who they want as a trustee on the board of the Norwegian Sports Confederation.

In practice it will reduce much of the IOC’s influence over the management of Norwegian sport.

Washed clean!

THE the change is absolutely necessary. Under Berit Kjøll’s management, the Norwegian Sports Confederation has been in recent years exceptional item for what IOC President Thomas Bach might think at any given time.

Now the sports president is clear that Russian athletes must be kept away Olympics, but the break with the IOC chiefs came overtime:

• While the international job of football president Lise Klaveness has been one role model on how Norwegian leaders should stand up for values ​​in the face of foreign cultures, the Norwegian Olympic effort has become one total fiasco.

Quite simply because Norwegian sports leaders in their new Olympic positions does not have finished to work reliably for the Norwegian sports movement’s fundamental values ​​of community, honesty, health and enjoyment of sport.

Kristin Kloster Aasen hits back at the critics

THE it is possible to correct the failure without once again dividing Norwegian sports. A holistic sports movement with the top and the broadest in the same organization is crucial to taking care of the strong Norwegian sports culture:

• An independent top Olympic sport will quickly destroy the joint effort that has made the winter sports nation Norway one international sensation in many new sports, but most of all threaten an open, inclusive people’s movement.

Precisely having the same values ​​and frameworks for all Norwegian sports, ensures a shared healthy sports culture.

THE also believes the committee that has looked at the further cooperation with the IOC. At the Sports Council, there will be a recommendation to continue this overall organization as before, but raise awareness of what the international obligations are for Norway by taking part in the Olympic Games:

– The demands and expectations set by the Norwegian Sports Confederation from the IOC are not an obstacle to Norwegian sports democracythe committee concludes.

But it the embarrassing split in the Russia vote in the Sports Board shows that exactly that requires a better understanding of the role of Thomas Bach’s Norwegian helpers.

Reviled in Russia

FOR in the practical management of Norwegian sport, the IOC must understand its people Which one movement they actually lead:

• Any disagreement must reflect the Norwegian sports democracy; not orders from the IOC president to march to the beat.

Then you have to behave accordingly. In other words, stay away from matters that bring together Norwegian sports.

JUST it realized the previous important Olympic leader who at the same time sat on the board of the Norwegian Sports Confederation. Gerhard Heiberg was certainly the IOC’s man, but he knew when it was wise to put the Olympic side aside.

Therefore took Heiberg never a protocol supply. If he disagreed on a particularly sensitive matter, he instead chose to declare himself incompetent. Provocative IOC representatives in the sports board will, over time, only destroy the unique Norwegian scheme of gathering breadth – and top in in popular movement.

It was a wise thought by Heiberg.

This time the most important break with the IOC came far too late.

Ended in scandal