Medal winners Birgit Skarsten (33) and Kejtel Porsche (32) and the rest of the national rowing team are likely to start next year with less than 1 million crowns than the team manager believes they need to make preparations before the 2024 Paralympic Games and Olympics.
It is not a dream to be in it, notes Lars Beunice (59).
An Olympic silver medalist in double rowing from 1988 and 1992, as well as a world champion from 1989 and 1994, he is the senior sporting officer on the board of the Norwegian Rowing Federation. Olympic qualification awaits next year. Sporting director Daniel Berg gave a presentation of what he and national team manager Mark Emke thought would cost preparations for the Paris Games in 2023.
The Olympics will be held from July 26 to August 12, 2024, and the Paralympic Games from August 28 to September 8 in just over two years.
– We have the desired activity level. To achieve this, we need a million in terms of income insurance, assures rowing head Thorvald Jacobsen.
When asked if the national team players were aware of the situation, he replied that a lack of coverage regarding the activity was reported in a media meeting with the national team manager last week.
The cost budget for 2022 – a year of low activity – was 8.9 million under “best sport/performance”. In 2023, Jacobsen says, there are nearly a million more than needed. He says that this year’s result – “with a zero budget,” according to Beyonce – will turn out to be minus 200,000 NOK.
Sports director Berg says they are “united” because – the million in disguise – a reality.
– For those of us rowers who are used to handing krona, this is a lot of money. The costs are increasing. The International Rowing Federation (International Rowing Federation) has stated that the expenses of World Cup organizers could rise four to seven percent above what has already been stated, says Daniel Berg.
He adds that they have Plan A and Plan B, depending on the response to the federation’s sponsor hunt and requests for extra money from Olympiatoppen and the Swedish Sports Federation – which, according to rowing chief Thorvald Jakobsen, will likely come in his New Year.
He says the Olympic summit has now added additional funds that will “partly” cover a 10-day meeting in Italy’s lowlands in November. The question of whether the union can contribute its share. The rowing chief says they still have a conversation about whether they can get more from the Norwegian Sports Federation’s biggest sporting body.
Before the EC in Munich in August la gold wholesaler Birgit Skarsten, Olympic silver medalist Kjetil Borch and a rowing squad of 20 athletes at an altitude training camp – for the first time in Norway – to jofas in Jotunheimen. National team manager Emke did not have money at his disposal to send abroad, which is a common occurrence.
Clubs refused to pay “height supplements” in addition to their quotas – according to Lars Buenos from 60,000 to 65,000 – they have to pay for each of their national team players.
The dwindling union coffers also meant that Norway’s best rowers had to stay home when the World Cup award was scrapped.
Sports director Daniel Berg says the “missing a million” wish includes several days of gathering outside with ideal conditions “when there are sub-zero temperatures in Årungen”, the national team’s permanent training base 30 kilometers south of Oslo.
The Rowing Association has two exclusive sponsorship agreements that annually bring in a total of 800,000 NOK. President Thorvald Jacobsen says these will expire on New Year’s, but he assumes they will last and considers them safe for 2023. In addition, there will be three equipment agreements.
Lars Bjønnes says they lack a great sponsor who can put more money on the table.
– We must bring in more funds to ensure the quality required for success in the Olympic and Paralympic Games (2024), while at the same time we must ensure more growth for the Olympics and Paralympics in 2028 (Los Angeles) and 2032 (Brisbane), Jacobsen asserts.
This year, seven rowers, on the basis of previous results, were awarded two Olympiatoppens awards: two grants A (120,000) to Birgit Skarstein and Kjetil Borch, and two grants B (70,000) to Martin Helseth, Oscar Helvig, Erik Solbakken and Kristoffer Brun, U – Scholarship (60,000) Lars Pinsky.
We will apply for as many as possible, answers Daniel Berg when asked how many are eligible for the ‘Summer 2023’ scholarship award.
“Infuriatingly humble internet trailblazer. Twitter buff. Beer nerd. Bacon scholar. Coffee practitioner.”
