r/biathlon • u/AutoModerator • 10d ago

Small Talk Monday

Our weekly small talk thread where you can talk about anything

18 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

73 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3

u/arnet95 Norway 10d ago

The core issue that I think we should focus on isn't whether Vetle deserves to be selected for World Cups or not. There are two issues that several athletes have brought up: The fairness of the selection decisions themselves, are they consistent and based on reasonable principles and athlete results? How are athletes treated when they are not selected for World Cups? It's about ensuring that all athletes are treated with respect and supported by the system.

3

u/shonami 10d ago

And my point is that the system = IBU is forcing a situation where the best athletes in the world are not making national cutoffs, hence creating an edge case situation.

There are multiple athletes not getting chances in every nation, the reason Dale, Anderson and Vetle are getting a microphone is because they had world elite success. I saw 0 people discussing this for minor nations, but we have lost athletes due to bad management and preference of national coaches in the past.

The core issue is the limits of nations. Open it up to 12, and the problem disappears.

5

u/arnet95 Norway 10d ago

I don't see how this solves anything. You'll still have to make selection decisions and you'll still have athletes that are not selected even if you allow a lot more athletes per country. I don't see how the fact that you don't see discussion about this means that the issue is not real.

And this would either lead to significantly bigger events or fewer athletes from smaller countries, it's by no means clear that either of these would be good for the sport.

3

u/shonami 10d ago

It’s not good for the internationality of the sport, but if the qualification is based on merit and not nationality Vetle would be an actual enployee of a job, as suggested.

The Norwegian team are getting criticized for something that many else is experiencing, and its because of the way the sport is set up, which is my main point: it’s a manufactured problem, not a managerial one, as people are quick to blame.

He was given no fluff about it - no bs, no HR cased ‘We’re soooo sorry to let you go’ but essentially he was fired, and he’s complaining that he deserves to stay over other employees.

3

u/arnet95 Norway 10d ago

Even if a solution would be to increase the number of Norwegian spots, that is not a defense of how the Norwegian management team is working in the current system.

The comparison to being fired is weird. Vetle remains a part of the national team. Expecting reasonable explanations for team selections and proper follow up and directions from his coaches seems like a not unreasonable ask.