Five-time Olympic champion in cross-country skiing recently announced that he would no longer play for the national team and risks being left without international starts. Following the departure was announced by the main sponsor of the team, interrupting more than 20 years of cooperation.
The reduction of the national team and the escape of Klebo
It would seem, and here Russia. In fact, the suspension of our athletes has a very clear connection with what is happening in the Norwegian team. They were left without their main competitors, and the World Cup lost a significant part of the intrigue. The World Championships in Slovenia in 2023 turned out to be a failure both in terms of numbers on TV and in terms of spectators in the stands on ski racing days. It is clear that sponsors cannot like this, and many of them have thought about reformatting interaction with athletes.This directly affected many countries, and the most powerful team of the World Cup did not bypass the problems in the absence of Russia. The Norwegians had to reduce the composition from 24 to 20 people. Partly because of this, the legendary Hans Christer Holund, winner of four world championship gold medals, ended his career. There is a possibility that there will be no money for Emil Iversen and Didrik Tenset, who have been stars in the Norwegian national team for many years.Against this background, another powerful blow was dealt to the team. Five-time Olympic champion Johannes Klebo announced his retirement from the national team, and one of the reasons he called the unfair treatment of his long-term partners.
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“With my departure, the ski federation will have the opportunity to cut costs and spend money on other athletes. I think it is wrong to receive funds for high altitude training at a time when teammates would have lost their places due to cost cuts in the federation. I also know that a few people feel that I have been given special treatment that I don't deserve. Now that I'm not in the national team, they don't need to think about it,» Klebo quotes VG.
Klebo will not be at the World Cup?
However, Johannes, of course, is a little cunning. The main reason for his departure is still the need to prepare individually. Everything is in order with sponsors and funding. Klebo has the opportunity to conduct mining camps in the United States and not think about whether he has enough money or not. And then come and collect the prize money at the World Cup.Another thing is that according to the situation at this particular moment, the Norwegian does not have the right to compete in international competitions. In Norway, there is a rule that only members of the national team can participate in events under the auspices of the FIS, and this is both the Cup and the World Championship. Klebo has already asked his federation to revise the rule for his sake. In fact, this is a humiliation for the national team, which must now rewrite the laws for the sake of one person, albeit a very successful one.
But this is not all the troubles of Norwegian skiing. One of the largest sponsors of the national team, the company Norengros, announced the termination of cooperation with the national team at the end of the season. This happened almost immediately after Klebo announced his departure from the national team.
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"We have a clear idea of the national team model, which is now violated. This is a big problem for the breadth of the audience and the selection of athletes, because now the situation is such that the best athletes want to run on their own. The national team does not become more attractive when the best go about their business,” said Norengos marketing manager Espen Serhaug in an interview with VG.
One thing is clear — world skiing is on the verge collapse, even if the rich Norwegian team has such problems. The removal of Russia is one of the main problems for the FIS, because it is very likely that all the mechanisms built over decades are collapsing like a house of cards.