He already has both silver and bronze from the Olympics, and in 2026 Magnus Nedregotten dreams of taking the step all the way to the top. That’s why he quit his regular job this spring to be able to invest properly in the sport, and at about the same time he was offered to follow up the Estonian women’s national team in a 40 percent position. Nedregotten is said to have consulted with both Olympiatoppen and the national team manager, and agreed. – It gives me the resources to continue the investment while also giving me training facilities and exchange of experience in an environment that has a national team system. I don’t have that in Norway. So it is my opportunity to achieve my goals, he explains to news in connection with a training session with Estonia on Snarøya outside Oslo. NEW JOB: Magnus Nedregotten together with the Estonian women during a gathering in Oslo recently. Photo: Dag Robert Johansen / news Nedregotten plays mixed team curling himself. His partner, Kristin Skaslien, also plays on the Norwegian women’s national team. That is why he feels that the Estonia job is perfect: Because when his partner is in training with the Norwegian national team, he can train the Estonian women – and at the same time train himself. Thinks the collaboration is problematic But last week Nedregotten received a letter from the board of the Norwegian Curling Association. news has seen the letter, and there they write that the board and sports management “find this involvement problematic”. He is also told to reconsider his engagement with Estonia. You are a scholarship recipient and national team player in the Norwegian national team. As a coach for the Estonian women’s team, you want to work for the best possible results for them. This will involve direct competition with the Norwegian women’s team in a season where a WC place and an Olympic place are at stake, says the letter signed by president Dagfinn Loen and sports manager Pål Trulsen. Nedregotten feels opposed, and that he is being refused a job. GOT A LETTER: The association wrote to Nedregotten that they thought the involvement in the Estonian team was problematic. Photo: Nariman El-Mofty / AP – I think that is completely unreasonable, given the framework given by the union today. Then you must have respect for the individual and the chance that individual should have to reach the top. Especially with the short dialogue we have had, where they only briefly say that I have to reconsider this. I think that is extremely problematic. It can’t be like that, says the 33-year-old. Top sports manager Tore Øvrebø confirms that he has received questions about this case. – I have conveyed that I have no objections and that Olympiatoppen is not a party to these assessments. These assessments are internal to the Curling Association, writes Øvrebø in an SMS. news has repeatedly been in contact with the Norwegian Curling Association, which does not wish to comment on the matter. – It pisses me off. Nedregotten, who is also head of the Norwegian athletes’ committee, says that he has no national team agreement, and that the 95,000 kroner he receives in athlete stipends from the Olympic summit makes it impossible to bet on an Olympics. – It pisses me off. There is one main goal that is in my head, that is to win the last Olympic medal that I don’t already have in my closet. In order to achieve that, you have to make rather cynical choices, given the framework conditions that exist today. I just hope that they try a little better to see the athletes’ side of things, and that they realize that it is up to them themselves to create good framework conditions for us to achieve the goals they have set, says Nedregotten. SILVER DUO: Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Skaslien during the final in the Beijing Olympics in 2022. It ended with silver. Photo: AFP In the sporting plan of the curling association, which was presented to the curling confederation in June, it is stated that the association aims to win medals in all international championships. – When I go so far as to do this (interview, journ.anm.) to have that opportunity, I hope that it is a good incentive for people to understand that they have to roll up their sleeves to get enough resources. Not just to me, but to the women’s team as well, and to everyone in Norway who has the results you actually have, says Nedregotten and adds: – It is an Olympic sport where you have the most screen time on TV when it is played in front of heaps of spectators every four year. Then I believe that you have not done your job well enough on the board to be able to make arrangements for the athletes you actually have. Fears the dream will be crushed In the same sporting plan, i.e. the one that was presented to the Bundestag in June, it is stated, among other things, that the teams that receive scholarships from the Olympic summit must: Not actively work against the national team’s interests by taking on roles in competing national teams. This sporting plan has not been sent to Nedregotten, despite the fact that he is a scholarship athlete. The curling association also confirms this in its letter to the Olympic athlete. Nevertheless, they believe that Nedregotten should have investigated the matter more closely before entering into a collaboration with Estonia. BRONZE DUO: Magnus Nedregotten and Kristin Skaslien took bronze during the Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018. Photo: NTB At the same time, the board finds it strange that you have not undertaken an investigation duty and, regardless of the above, have not yourself found such involvement problematic – especially above the women’s team – and that the association has not been contacted in advance, the association writes in the letter. Nedregotten claims he had a dialogue with the Norwegian national team coach before he agreed to Estonia. He points out again that he is trying to find a solution where he can achieve his own and the union’s goals at the same time as the mortgage is paid. – Of course, ideally, I could wish that those resources existed and that it was possible to reach the goals you have set yourself through the sporting framework conditions set by your own federation. But it is not like that today. Then I don’t find it problematic that an athlete tries to the best of his ability to follow a path, the one path that perhaps leads to the big goal which is Olympic gold, says Nedregotten. – Can be devastating Nedregotten also helped Estonia before the WC for mixed teams in 2023. Nedregotten himself did not participate in that championship for Norway. The two national teams (Estonia and Norway) met in the quarter-finals of the championship, a quarter-final Norway won. Estonia was nevertheless so satisfied with Nedregotten’s efforts that this year they have entered into a new collaboration with him, this time a collaboration that is not limited in time. – Maybe a compromise can be found where I don’t sit on the coaching bench when you meet Norwegian teams. It is perhaps a possibility that I am at least willing to look at, suggests the curling player. In any case, Nedregotten hopes for a solution that means he does not have to quit his new job. – We must try to find a solution. There are always possibilities, so I hope it doesn’t come to that. I think that can be destructive to achieving the goals I have set for myself. Published 04/09/2024, at 06.33 Updated 04.09.2024, at 06.58
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Magnus Nedregotten is cursed – feels he is being denied a national team job – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
