Joakim Aune coached Chinese ski jumpers for three months.
Joakim Aune last competed in the official competition in 2019. AOP
Norwegian ski jumping coach Joakim Aune received a call from China in October asking him to coach the Chinese highland team to Beijing.
It started quite a bit.
– I was there for about three months. It felt like three, four, five years, but it was probably because we worked so hard and for so long, Aune said. TV2’s in an interview.
Aue also said he was not prepared for people to be monitored in China around the clock.
– I was sent a surveillance tape on which it was recorded when I visited the hotel reception. It was not allowed. I was a little anxious then.
He wasn’t sure if the phone in his room was being listened to, so he took it off the wall.
– There were cameras all over the hotel, but I couldn’t find them inside the room. I know the phones are being monitored and I know the people who were following what we were doing. They hid and followed so that we didn’t notice them so well.
Tough pressure
Aue’s goal in China was to get the country’s ski jumpers ready for the Home Olympics in three months. It demanded its taxes.
Aue said that during the day he occasionally stood in the flu for ten hours in a hill-jumping tower in 25-degree frost and on his return to the hotel he was told to sew hill-jumping suits all night.
Each workday lasted 12 to 15 hours.
Aune coached six jumpers between the ages of 19 and 22 who had been completely isolated from their families for two years. They had practiced during these years from morning to night.
– It must have been really heavy. The pressure on the athletes was huge, they felt it too. It was hard for me too to be there for a few months.
– During the exercises, some people almost slept on the ground because they were so tired.
Joakim Aunelle washed the Chinese highland team was memorable. AOP
Best ranking 31st
Aune dared to speak publicly about her experiences, but her statements still show fear.
– I’m not worried, but the uncertainty that something can happen is a little scary. At the same time, I have nothing bad to say about China.
– Leaders are so respected that if someone says something against them … I don’t know what will happen to them. They can control you in a way that is from another world compared to what we are used to here in Norway, he continued.
Aune said he could have been kicked into the field after just two days, as he said things could have been done differently. China did not like it if the superiors were told against.
However, Aune was able to justify his position well enough.
– They said you have to be careful if you oppose the system.
One kind of system was motivating with money. If the athlete failed in the training, Aune was forced to fine the athlete.
– They gave the athletes a certain amount of money per month and then they forced us coaches to reduce some of them if they did poorly in the training.
Aune said he and other coaches will eventually manipulate that system. They reduced for one athlete and the following week for another. Then they did the opposite and gave them supplements later.
The best ranking of the Chinese in the hill jump was Dong Bingin jumping in the 31st women’s hill jump.
– It’s hard for me to know if it was worth it to them. If they continue, it might be worth it, but if they quit now, the price was tough.