World champion and Olympic medalist Antti Kasvio wants changes in Finland’s training culture.
Won bronze in swimming at the Barcelona Olympics and was also crowned world champion in his career Antti Kasvio hopes for changes in the Finnish sports and training culture, which would better bring talented individuals to the surface.
His daughter Lunch Kasviota the swimmer who is coaching towards prestigious competitions sees that with individual-centered thinking, the best athletes would immediately receive high-quality support at a young age.
– In general, you get better results in sports when you focus on the thing itself. It would be better to separate exercise and sport. How it happens socially, I can’t say anything about it, Antti Kasvio thinks.
The Olympic medalist had also talked about it on his social media channel.
– We should dare to raise good ones and help those with potential, Kasvio reflected on Instagram.
Kasvio trains with his daughter in Finland independently and with his own program. There aren’t too many other options, because Louna Kasvio focuses on long course competitions and open water swimming.
– We don’t have to answer to anyone whether something is okay, whether we are doing something too much, too little. We make decisions together. In terms of sports, it works.
Representing Finland takes resources
Louna and Antti Kasvio are going to the European Championships for youth and adults this year. Oona Grönqvist
Louna Kasvio has become one of Finland’s most promising swimmers in high school. It includes international swimming competitions and foreign camps in the annual program, a large part of the costs of which must be paid out of one’s own pocket.
– It’s a bit strange to pay for going to value competitions. The swimming association pays something depending on success, so it doesn’t work automatically. You go to represent Finland and you pay for it, Kasvio, who was recently on a competition trip in Luxembourg, wonders.
Swimming is not easy to get rich in Finland, but you can get the title of athlete of the year. Kasvio has seen up close how people from different parts of the world react to the popular sport. For example, the swimming culture of the USA, the sport’s model country, is its own world compared to Finland’s.
– Swimming tickets are often the first to be sold in the Olympics. Olympic qualifiers are organized in football stadiums. I saw the news that tickets to swimming competitions in the Yankees are sold for more than three tons. But when we organize competitions, there are only mutts and faijas in the stands.
Kasvio points out that a young swimmer should get used to full stands and a rich swimming culture. It increases the need to visit outside of Finland.
– I’ve been in the same situation as a swimmer, and it (public pressure) shouldn’t be a problem. However, you have to practice it.