The 3,000 meter hurdler Jacob Boutera has gone hard against the Olympiatoppen (OLT) Olympic selection, after he was wrecked, although he subsequently qualified for the Games. Now he is reacting to a statement OLT’s top sports manager Tore Øvrebø made during Thursday’s Dagsnytt 18 broadcast. – The top 12 requirement is very exaggerated. We have top 12 as an ambition for the squad and that is what we want them to strive for. Then in many sports they will influence the image of the competition and that creates proud sporting moments and it is a different kind of experience than coming neck and neck almost last, said Øvrebø. STATED: Jacob Boutera feels unfairly treated by OLT. Photo: Kai Rune Kvitstein / news – First of all, it is something completely different from what he has given me as a reason previously. Last week he said it was because of the top 12 main criteria that I wasn’t selected. Now he says that it is an excessive and misunderstood criterion, says Boutera to news after the broadcast. The runner approached the OLT last week to gain more insight into the decision, and received the following response from the top sports manager by email: The email Boutera received from Øvrebø news has seen the email Boutera received from the top sports manager, and reproduces the content here: Hi Jacob, Thank you for your inquiry. The reference for selection for participation in the Olympics is a documented probability of being able to achieve a position among the 12 best. Over a long period of time, we have had a close dialogue with the athletics association in this matter, and have also followed your performance development. Had there been a possibility that, through the reallocation, an opportunity could have opened up for you to meet the main criterion of being able to be among the 12 best, then we would have waited with the withdrawal until the last deadline. Kind regards Tore Øvrebø replies “I answered Jacob based on the overall ambition. He received the precise justification that applies to withdrawal from athletics in his dialogue with the athletics association. This happened before he was in contact with me. That is the rationale I referred to in Dax18 today,” writes Øvrebø to news. Boutera responds to the reply as follows: “He calls it the ‘main criterion’ in the email, and not an overall ambition.” He points out that he was originally suspended by the Norwegian Athletics Federation (NFIF). Something sports manager in NFIF Erlend Slokvik has previously confirmed. Slokvik writes to news in an e-mail on Thursday evening: “We refer to OLT’s demand for the possibility of a top 12 in our criteria, but the final assessments are made by OLT, and they are then the right body to answer this.” On the OLT’s website it is stated that “Norwegian athletes/teams selected for the Olympic Games must have documented chances of a place among the 8-12 best,” Several have advocated that Boutera had a probability of reaching the top 12, and that he would have been taken out if athletics’ calculation methods had been used. news’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt also believes that the criticism of the selection has been justified: – Coward Both Boutera and Øvrebø took part in Thursday’s Dagsnytt 18 broadcast. But Boutera was not allowed to participate in the discussion with Øvrebø, he was only allowed to make an opening statement. The presenter said during the broadcast that the top sports manager did not want to have the discussion with an individual athlete in the studio. He debated instead with Dagbladet commentator Esten O. Sæther. – You were not allowed to participate in the debate with Øvrebø – what was the message you received? – I was contacted by the editors of Dagsnytt 18 yesterday, who said that Øvrebø would come, but only if I wasn’t there. So I got the opportunity to give a post at the start. And thought it was better than nothing. NORWEGIAN CHAMPION: Boutera is Norwegian champion in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. Here he jumps over an obstacle during the European Championships in Munich in 2022. Photo: NTB – What do you think that he didn’t want to talk to you in the studio? – I simply had to leave the studio when they entered. It appears a bit cowardly. It doesn’t give me the opportunity to answer what is about me and the withdrawal, which is probably the reason why he didn’t want me there as well. It is a bit sad that he can debate and come up with untruths, which I could argue away and show to be simply lies. When asked why Øvrebø did not want to meet Boutera in the studio, he answers as follows: “The debate was presented to me as a debate about the top 12 formulation and criteria for selection to the Olympics more generally”. Boutera says he actually feels quite finished with the matter. – But I felt I had to take part on Dagsnytt 18. It’s not like I want to keep the debate going for life and death, but I also don’t want Øvrebø to be able to continue with untruths. TOP SPORTS MANAGER: Tore Øvrebø did not want to debate Boutera in the studio. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB – Several athletes are ranked lower than me During the broadcast, Boutera was able to talk about why he is frustrated by the Olympic cancellation: – Several athletes are ranked lower than me, who have been selected in both athletics and other disciplines, and then I am left feeling that it is an unfair and unreasonable withdrawal. How to get to the Olympics in 3000mh Qualification period: 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 Direct requirements for the Olympics. 8.15.00 minutes Maximum number of participants per nation: 3 If you take the Olympic requirement, you are automatically qualified. The National Olympic Committees can choose to scrap athletes anyway, as is the case for Spain’s Victor Ruiz. The remaining places are filled based on the athletes’ ranking. It is based on the average score from the three best races in the qualifying period. When the period is over, the lists will be cleared of athletes who will not run in the Olympics. In other words, those who are not registered for various reasons. It will give the opportunity to the next on the list, such as Boutera who moves up from 43rd place to a place among the top 36. He is also upset that he has not been able to talk properly with OLT about the withdrawal: – It has been completely impossible for me to have a dialogue with Tore Øvrebø or his colleagues at the Olympiatoppen, who do not want to talk to me. When it comes to why someone is selected for the Olympics and Boutera is not, Øvrebø answered the following on Dagsnytt 18: – It’s very simple. It is according to the criteria we have worked out together with the Norwegian Athletics Federation to get a profile of the squad they are sending. So someone who is closer to Boutera than me needs to convey this for him to understand better. There is no one other than Esten (O. Sæther) who has doubts about the withdrawal rules. You must meet the requirement or you must be in the rankings before the other nations start drawing athletes. It’s that simple, actually. This statement also makes Boutera shake his head. – Now he says that you have to be on the ranking list before other countries have drawn their athletes. That criterion is nowhere to be found, and there was no justification given to me, so he comes up with a completely different justification today, says Boutera in frustration. Published 11.07.2024, at 22.50 Updated 11.07.2024, at 22.58
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Jacob Boutera believes the top sports manager changed his explanation during news appearance – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
