But before the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, there will be changes in the Latvian Olympic team, which takes care of the financial and medical support of Olympic athletes. From now on, the unit will become an elite medical center, while the funding function will fall into the hands of sports federations.
The decision was made on Monday after the meeting of the members of the Latvian Olympic unit, during which the unit’s performance audit and development plan for the coming years was reviewed. It envisages optimizing the functions of the Olympic team by separating the current distribution of funding for elite athletes.
“From January, this function could be taken over by the Latvian Olympic Committee (LOC), which will sign an agreement with the specific sports federation, which will administer these training expenses for athletes. Thus, this intermediate stage, which was currently performed by the Olympic team, will be reduced, ”says Edgars Severs, Director of the Sports Department of the Ministry of Education and Science.
Therefore, the main task of the unit in the future will be the full service of elite athletes to provide general medical support. The benefit for athletes is that there will be no check accumulation to prove spending to donors.
However, the Olympic team will continue to compile a list of elite athletes who will receive state support. And already in December, it must be clear which athletes are entitled to the funds. However, it is especially difficult to assess the achievements of the Olympians during a pandemic, when some athletes have not competed at all.
“We have now conducted a full round of negotiations with all federations. And we have this updated list, taking into account the results of the athletes last summer for those who were given such an opportunity. And those who were not given such an opportunity, they are very carefully evaluated together with the federations, their work, progress in training processes, ”says Einars Fogelis, the head of the Latvian Olympic team.
“We understand that, for objective reasons, it was not possible for summer athletes to meet the criteria for the Olympic team. Most likely, the decision will be that the athletes who were in the team will also be in the team before the Tokyo Games, ”says the director of the Sports Department of the Ministry of Education and Science.
If most Olympic athletes can be safe with the means, the pandemic has made adjustments in an important training process before the Tokyo Olympics. Many do not have training camps abroad, they also lack experience in international competitions.
“Lack of competition, training and physical condition is one thing, and the atmosphere of competition, tension is another thing. Therefore, we are currently working with the Academy of Sports Pedagogy to maximize this block of mental health by working with athletes. ”
The Olympic team is convinced that the athletes will be fully prepared for the start of the Olympic Games in July next year.
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