None of you who care about Norwegian sport can pretend that you have not been part of the discussions. Around what is biggest, best and most deserving. To the extent that sport has set aside a separate, official day to openly speculate – and not least to get answers. This day happens to be today, Saturday January 7th. When the Sports Gala gets underway again in the Hamar Olympic Amphitheater, Norwegian sports will also gather physically to celebrate for the first time in three years. And when it finally happens, it is to round off what can easily defend being called “the Norwegian sports year of all time”. The difficult choices 2022 gave us a record number of 16 Olympic golds, 4 Paralympics golds – all for Jesper Saltvik Pedersen, top 3 athletes in the world in both golf and tennis and world champions in such different sports as powerlifting, speed cycling, ski flying and trials . Just to name a few. There are quite a few more. This also makes the annual challenges greater than ever for the jury led by top sports director Tore Øvrebø. CHALLENGE: Tore Øvrebø heads the jury. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB How much should a Hildeborg Juvet Hugdal actually lift in the bench press to compete with Marte Olsbu Røiseland’s three Olympic golds? How big a margin of victory did Tobias Foss have when he won Norway’s first WC gold in tempo cycling to beat Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the battle to become Male Athlete of the Year? How fast did Hallgeir Engebråten have to go 5000 mi in the Olympics to beat our first trial world champion, Sondre Haga in the fight to win Breakthrough of the Year? This is how a Saturday evening can quickly disappear. Had we not received the answer from the stage at Hamar. 12 correct Until it is evening, we can use our privilege to guess a little in the total of 12 categories. Like that completely on the completely innocent level. Non-innocent gambling is known only to Magnus Carlsen, the two-time world champion who has only been nominated as Name of the Year. At least now that John Carew has found, well, other things to do. If we are to follow the chronology of the gala from last year, the debates will flare up already early in the evening. First through the selection of “Team of the Year”, where our extremely popular handball women had previously engraved the trophy. But where our world leaders in sand volleyball, Mol and Sørum, who in 2022 became world champions for the first time, can now win for the third time in a row. Still, neither of them should get the trophy this time. For our team speed skaters, who in Beijing defended the Olympic gold from 2018, actually deserve this recognition. GOLD TEAM: From left: Peder Kongshaug, Sverre Lunde Pedersen and Hallgeir Engebråten. Photo: Sue Ogrocki / AP The toughest of all time But the really big discussion topic of the evening is the next category out, namely “Male athlete of the year”. I dare to say, without a hint of nervousness, that this is the strongest field of candidates in a category at a Sports Gala ever. Casper Ruud against Jakob Ingebrigtsen against Johannes Thingnes Bø against Jørgen Graabak against Johannes Høsflot Klæbo against Tobias Foss against Marius Lindvik against Mats Zuccarello against Kristian Blummenfelt against Aleksander Aamodt Kilde against Birk Ruud. And then I saved our biggest international star for last: Erling Braut Haaland. He who breaks all the records to be broken in the world’s best football league, but who is not going to win “Male Athlete of the Year” at the Norwegian Sports Gala. Perhaps Haaland can become “Name of the Year” or win the “Athletes’ award”. But he is unlikely to win this one. Mostly because he doesn’t have a concrete title to show for in 2022. WORLD STAR: Erling Braut Haaland is the top scorer in the Premier League, but is that enough to win an award? Photo: OLI SCARFF / AFP Instead, the new wave will be summer sports stars, represented by Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Casper Ruud, who will probably fight against Johannes Thingnes Bø for the victory. Regardless, historic gold for Tobias Foss or Birk Ruud. And here we come to what is an underlying challenge at the entire Sports Gala: the composition of the jury. First among equal men No one doubts that the Sports Gala has an extremely sports-competent jury. Surnames such as Bjørgen, Aamodt and Haugland represent the best of Norwegian sporting experience and expertise over the past decades. But the composition of the jury is too uniform and too traditional. It will also influence their decisions. Just the fact that the person responsible for the Olympic Summit is the chairman of the jury is a problem in itself. Because regardless of the objectivity he strives for, Tore Øvrebø will necessarily prefer that one of his own wins, when it is otherwise fairly equal. And he has with him a jury that could very easily end up agreeing with him. The sports gala’s real capital lies in the degree of prestige. Which it has managed to build impressively. Maintaining this further is best done through a jury which to a slightly greater extent reflects the modern Norwegian sporting picture, in terms of the spectrum of sports, but also age, background and competence. At the moment, the road to a prize is certainly much longer for athletes who practice their sport completely or largely independently of what is going on at the Olympiatoppen at Sognsvann in Oslo. Stars in the shadow Greatness in sport is, as we have already discussed, subjective. The objective figures in terms of interest and distribution on a worldwide basis would otherwise indicate that Erling Braut Haaland won all the awards he was eligible for, with increasingly strong competition from Martin Ødegaard. Casper Ruud and Viktor Hovland would fight for the last podium place. This is not the case in Norway. Ruud and Hovland are in reality stars who operate partly in the shadow of the Norwegian people. GOLF STAR: Viktor Hovland has established himself at the top of the world in golf. Here from the final round of The Open, where he went into the lead ball and finished in shared fourth place. Photo: PHIL NOBLE / Reuters Partly because their sports are not broadcast on the biggest TV channels, partly because most of their most important tournaments partly take place in parts of the world where the time difference makes them inaccessible, and perhaps most of all because the broad interest in Norwegian people are simply too low. In contrast to when we talk about sports on snow and ice. But our beloved winter sports are an endangered species. And Idretts-Norge is on its way to adapting to that. This should also be reflected during the sports nation’s own gala. Therefore, this could be the evening when Norwegian sport, deservedly or not, takes the final, symbolic step away from being primarily a winter sports nation. On such an evening, Casper Ruud also wins, barely ahead of Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the prize for Male Athlete of the Year. Ruud is the one who, most of all, is the eternal second. In the year when everyone won. But who should win because, more than anyone else, he has pushed barriers no one has ever come close to in Norwegian sports. For the women, the real final field is otherwise considerably smaller. It is in practice between Marte Olsbu Røiseland and Therese Johaug. With Johaug likely to win. Despite Røiseland’s overall results being stronger. But Johaug’s position in Norwegian sports is special in many ways. And the fact that she also used 2022 to end her career gives such an award an overly tempting sentimental touch, as a kind of honorary award for long and good service. WINNING DUO? Therese Johaug and Casper Ruud can receive the award for female athlete of the year and male athlete of the year, respectively. Here during a sponsor meeting in 2016. Front: Therese Johaug. Back from left: Magnus Carlsen, Casper Ruud, Martin Johnsrud Sundby and chef Ørjan Johannessen. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB At the end of the day The real award of honor still comes to an end. It is usually handed out by the sports president, which may also be the last chance to see Berit Kjøll do exactly this. The second prize-giver is ideally a royal, but a politician of some rank is also approved, especially if it is the Prime Minister. If it is indeed Jonas Gahr Støre who will present the award this time, we at least know that he is unlikely to arrive by train. I’m also pretty sure I know who will win the honorary award this time. There are circumstances that have made it possible for everyone to guess what I think is the candidate during Saturday. Which in that case will mean a very well-deserved recognition. I say no more. In fear of being wrong – here too. Something a scruffy government employee must avoid being confronted with on the sport’s own party night.
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