The Norwegian biathlon stars traveled by helicopter to the LOOP ONE Festival in Munich in order to lose as little training time as possible. A representative of the Norwegian Green Party cannot understand this at all and criticizes it harshly.
Overall, the LOOP ONE Festival in Munich was a success, but it also brought with it some unpleasant background noise. One of the things that made headlines was the Norwegian team, which interrupted its high-altitude training camp in Italy and flew to Germany by helicopter due to time constraints. The Norwegian Green Party politician Frøya Sjursæther criticized this extremely harshly in the “TV2” interview.
Winter sports enthusiasts in particular should be at the forefront when it comes to climate and environmental protection, complained the politician. “If they travel by helicopter to ski, they are helping to undermine the future of their own sport,” said Sjursæther.
Norwegian Biathlon Federation defends itself
According to the Green MP, the Norwegian biathlon team should have put the sport second in this case. “The association should have stood by its principles and thought about whether it was worth sacrificing its credibility on climate commitment for a show race,” complains the politician.
Norway’s team manager Per Arne Botnan did not let this criticism stand. He said on “TV2”: “We can’t always choose the best solution for the climate and the environment. Sometimes you have to prioritize sport.”
Top-class sport and environmental protection do not always go hand in hand
Botnan also said that the Norwegian Biathlon Association is already taking numerous measures to protect the climate and the environment – especially during the season when the teams do not fly home between the World Cups and travel by bus from location to location. If you look at these measures, “I think it doesn’t look so bad.” The credibility of the association is therefore not damaged.
Overall World Cup winner Sturla Holm Lægreid also said that the challenges of elite sport cannot always be reconciled with other important things. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t go hand in hand. That’s how it is in many areas. You could have done the interview about teams instead of coming to Lavaze,” he said with a wink to the “TV2” team that visited the Norwegians at the training camp in Italy.