Two small winter sports for the Netherlands, bobsleigh and curling, received good news from NOC-NSF on Wednesday. For the first time in a long time, bobsledding receives a financial contribution from the sports association. NOC-NSF will also increase its investment in curling in the coming Olympic period. This became apparent during the announcement at the Papendal sports center of the distribution of the top sports budget by NOC-NSF.
The majority of the available resources go, unsurprisingly, to the two most successful Dutch winter sports: long track speed skating and short track speed skating. These two sports provided all twenty medals for TeamNL at the successful Winter Olympics in February. Skating association KNSB may spend an amount of 1.1 million euros per year on both sports in the coming years – slightly more than the financing in recent years.
Every four years, shortly after the Games, the budgets for the Olympic winter sports are redistributed. NOC-NSF does not look so much at the performances of the past Winter Games, but rather at the expectations for the athletes and teams at the next Games, in 2030 in the French Alps. For the coming period, the sports association has a total of almost 3.5 million euros available per year, to be divided over seven sports and four sports associations.
In recent years, no money from NOC-NSF went to bobsleigh. This is now changing due to the good performances of Dutch bobsledders in recent years. In the coming Olympic cycle, 174,000 euros will go to men annually.
According to André Cats, director of top sports at NOC-NSF, joining the top is a real possibility for the Dutch bobsleigh team, he said in an explanation at the Papendal sports center. “Yes, I really think we can reach the world top in bobsledding.” At the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, the two-man bobsleigh led by pilot Dave Wesselink finished tenth. The four-man bob finished in thirteenth place.
Helmsman as a condition
According to Cats, 26-year-old Wesselink is the most important pawn for the chances of Dutch bobsleigh. “We said that we would like to help with the ambition of bobsleigh, but that the helmsman is crucial in this. No steering errors are allowed.” Wesselink’s continuation with the sport is therefore a condition for the award of the sum of money.
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For a number of sports, including bobsleigh, the financing from the sports umbrella organization depends on one specific top athlete. This means that if this athlete retires, the money will not be awarded. This also applies to skeleton, for example. If reigning world champion Kimberley Bos (32) leaves the sport in the coming years, NOC-NSF will also end the financing of the skeleton.
“Now or never” for curling
Other sports, such as speed skating and short track, do not depend on individual performance. This also applies to curling. Although the Dutch curlers failed to qualify for the Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, the NOC-NSF will award more money to the association over the next four years compared to the previous period. From this year onwards, the Dutch curling association will receive almost three and a half tons per year, a third more than in recent years. This is because the sports association sees particular potential in the men’s team, which, according to Cats, is “very close to the top ten.”
According to director Cats, it is “a bit now or never” for the Dutch curlers. NOC-NSF has attached a clear condition to the increased resources for curling. In order to join the global curling top, there must be “an adequate, top-sport worthy training facility in the Netherlands,” says Cats.
Shari Leibbrandt-Demmon, coach of the men’s and women’s teams, says she is pleased with the commitment of more money by NOC-NSF. “We have worked hard for this in recent years,” she says in a short telephone response. It is not yet clear to her how exactly the extra resources will be spent for the curling sport.
‘Insufficient perspective’
A number of sports associations will receive less or no money from NOC-NSF in the coming Olympic period. Although the figure skating couple Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba in Milan were the first Dutch figure skating duo ever to qualify for the Winter Olympics, the sports association again does not award them any money. NOC-NSF does not consider the pair promising enough to compete with the world top. “We don’t see enough prospects,” says Cats.
