Perttu Hyvärinen’s career is ending in harsh conditions.
Perttu Hyvärinen, 34, said on Sunday In Yle’s story, he suspects that there was politicking involved in the selection of the men’s Olympic skiing team.
The Kuopio native, who was left behind in the team, fought for the last place in practice between Ristomatti Hakola and Niilo Moilanen with. The mentioned skiers have a strong bond with the selectors, as Hakola’s personal coach is the head coach of the national team Teemu Pasanen and Moilanen’s coach is the leader of the sprint team Ville Oksanen.
None of the above-mentioned skiers has particularly flattering results from this or the previous winter, but it was decided to grant places on the Olympic team to Hakola and Moilasen.
For Hyvärin, the fall came as a big disappointment and surprise.
– From a sporting point of view, I don’t understand the choices. But let’s see how those choices took shape – or I want to be sure that the choices were made based on athletic results, Hyvärinen announced to Iltalehti on Monday.
Perttu Hyvärinen was disappointed with the Olympic selection. Pete Anikari
The comment smells very strongly that Hyvärinen would like to challenge the selection by taking the case to the Sports Safety Board for review.
There is really no other way to test the validity of the selection criteria.
– I don’t want to say anything about it yet anyway. Let the dust settle for a little while now. We’ll see later and then inform the media if there’s anything, Hyvärinen spins.
The skier probably has no hope of getting a ticket to the Olympics with the cabinet’s decision, because the cross-country competitions start already on Saturday of this week.
According to Hyvärinen, handling the case has taken so much strength that the situation requires a small breather.
– It’s been pretty intense here, this hustle and bustle now. I myself want to calm my thoughts a little, when this has warmed up my emotions so much. It would be nice to get a good night’s sleep sometimes, the man we reached from the gym is blowing.
It has become clear to Hyvärinen that competitive skiing will soon be done.
Viesti’s World Cup silver medalist makes it clear that the decision to quit, which was announced on Sunday, has nothing to do with the bitter Olympic disappointment.
– This certainly doesn’t surprise my close circle, and it certainly didn’t come as a surprise to others either. Time for each. I have other things to start now. That’s a sure thing, Hyvärinen states and says that his future patterns will be revealed soon.
Roponen defends
Toni Roponen, the top sports representative of the Olympic Committee, says that the competition selections for skiing were heavily discussed. PASI LEISMA
The selections made by the management of the national ski team were sealed by the top sports representative in the Finnish Olympic Committee Toni Roposen under.
He says that he understands very well that the athlete sees things from his own point of view differently than those responsible for the selections.
However, Roponen defends the final result.
– The coaches had really difficult choices, but everything possible has been considered. We trusted the coaching management’s view on what arguments and grounds the athletes were selected, says Roponen.
– Athletes have the right to express their own feelings and feel disappointed. In the big picture, however, the athlete understands that if he has given really good and clear performances, there is not even the possibility of politicking in them.
How much did the dropping of Hyvärinen talk about before you put a stamp on the paper?
– Very much. We had a discussion for at least a week and a half, and I was equally involved in that discussion as well Markus Vuorela. We had many hours-long meetings with Teemun [Pasanen], Reijon [Jylhä, naisten päävalmentaja] and with Ville Oksanen about the choices.
– It has to be said that in this case the coaches were particularly critical of their own athletes, whether they can produce results, Roponen refers to the dual roles of Pasanen and Oksanen as Hakola’s and Moilanen’s personal coaches.
Roponen points out that, on the other hand, the athletes must not suffer from the fact that their coach is in selection duties.
As an exclusionary solution to the problem, he names the prohibition of the dual role, but does not consider it optimal, because the daily work with the athlete gives the coach more information for the selection work.
Screens on the table
Olympic performances were given in skiing last season and this season. In Roponen’s opinion, the length of the review period does not make the situation more difficult, but creates better conditions to get the best possible team to the Games.
He reminds that, for example Kerttu Niskanen the early season was quite sticky.
– This year, the Olympic trips were only skied at the end of November and the beginning of December. A two-week flu could take away the whole dream of making it to the Olympics, if that was all there was to it. This also responsibly creates safety for the athlete, explains Roponen.
Of course, a place in the race can be grabbed by making a sensational breakthrough with a Norwegian rooster by Einar Hedegart in the style of.
– It doesn’t have to be fine for more than a week, as long as you do enough hard screens.
