“Maybe because they are idols for many? Maybe because many youngsters will do as the big names? Maybe because they should be good examples?”
If this is how you feel, why criticize Sundby in particular? Does he have a bigger responsibility in telling young athletes what they should and shouldn’t do than what Northug does? Sundby is an excellent example of how far hard work can get you, and that you don’t have to be the best at junior level to become the best at senior level.
“And yes, like you say, it should be obvious for young athletes that they can’t do as the ones in national team, but we already know about 13 or 14 year old who think it’s great to double pole through a race because it seems necessary these days.”
There has been held seven classic ski races (not counting relays) in the World Cup so far this season. One of them was won on wax-less skis. I don’t see a worrying trend here. I have yet to hear any concerns over 13-year-olds double poling. People are really blowing this double poling thing out of proportion. It’s the sport evolving, as it should be doing. I’m all in favor of making tougher courses though. It’s more fun to watch.
“Of course everyone is responsible for own training but don’t you think there is a certain kind of pressure to do more, to train harder, to put more hours into it if you hear all the time that hard work and training is the way to go?”
Hard work and training is the way to go if you want to become a top athlete. Heck, even if you want to become a decent one.
“That you see it every day… the NT coaches didn’t even have problems to come with criticism to Northug in media for doing too little for team during training camps… even if he did what was right for him!”
I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean here.
““especially looking at wch” was the point. Just look at Falun, ½ of allroundteam was not even qualified for Falun whereas the whole sprint team has been there. The only distance medal (apart from Northug) came from Gløersen who is part of sprint team, 3 out of 4 athletes in relay stood outside allroundteam.”
I’m sure Falun was a disappointment for the allround team (apart from Tønseth), but you can only judge a team’s effectiveness by how they’re doing at the moment, and this season has been very good so far.
“We can say without a doubt that most did a great TdS and obviously do well in World Cup too but yet we have the same problem of everyone needs to do well in November/December to make it into team and stay there.. which often causes them to be worse in February which is the month of championships.”
The need to perform well in November/December mostly goes for those outside the national elite team. The reason the Norwegian dominance is smaller in February/March is because other nations do better.
“No he is not only athlete with asthma but like the only talking about problems again and again to media while dominating the races. For real each time he spoke about problems this winter he did amazing and ofc it starts to make people wonder, to ask questions and maybe to get annoyed. Even commentators here start…”
If it annoys you, that’s perfectly fine. But like I said, I don’t have a problem with him being honest when reporters ask him how the race was for him.
“The problem here was not the stress fracture, the problem was not to say he had little pain, the problem was the signals it sends out!”
And what’s the signal? That he can comfortably win even with a stress fracture, and that it may make others discouraged?
“It’s great that Løfshus stands two days before season opener in Beitostølen in front of media and tells everyone that health should be most important but what kind of signal does it send if days later their star stands in front of media tells them he ignores the doctors and does not only the one planned race but two… if you want it or not, with everything you do in public you send out signals.”
It would be silly of Sundby to skip what he felt to be important races just so that he could send out what you think are the right signals. It was Skiforbundet who informed the press of the stress fracture (just as they informed about Holund’s problems). If it had been Sundby in an interview after he won the race, then I could agree with you.
...”why go to media and tell them about your problems during Christmas if all isn’t a problem and everything is great again? Why the story when allother athletes in Davos could see you out and about?”
“Why do now come up with injury during WCH 2011?”
I’m guessing because it was an interesting look behind the scenes to reveal something previously unknown. It was on a TV show after all. He didn’t just come out and say it just for the heck of it.
“Do you really expect others to say something? Maybe Sjur “we need to protect Sundby during mass starts” Røthe? Or Niklas “I was Sundbys helper today (he was only leading with huge gap before that)” Dyrhaug? Do you say something against colleagues/ team mates in public without negative reaction in and outside team? Chris Jespersen saying something after TdS 2014 and again before TdS 2015 was rather ignored even though he had a good point… and well they rather turned it into cycling this year. All for one captain. At the end they all want to stay in team and go races…”
Team tactics are nothing new. Gjerdalen did it many times for Northug. If Dyrhaug, for example, was leading TdS with a big margin after the first few legs as Sundby did, the other racers would race for him. The coaches have made it very clear that the most important thing is for a Norwegian to win. It doesn’t matter which one. Whether this is good or not is up for discussion. I don’t think Jespersen was ignored. He made some good arguments and received support by many who follow the sport. No matter what though, it’s a discussion that needs to be had internally among athletes and coaches.
“I’m not going to be sorry for having a problem with athletes willingly risking their health and being a bad example for upcoming generation. And not going to be sorry for having a problem with him talking about problems all the time while others have far bigger problems.”
Do you also have a problem with downhill skiing then? They are after all risking their health speeding down a mountain on two planks in up to 160 km/h. I think it’s unfair to criticize Sundby for talking about his problems because other people have bigger problems. You wouldn’t tell a depressed person to stop being sad because other people have it much worse, would you?
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