The annual sports gala will take place in Hamar on Saturday evening, where the best athletes of the previous year will be awarded.
Magnus Carlsen, Viktor Hovland, Erling Braut Haaland, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Jesper Saltvik Pedersen and Casper Ruud are the nominees for the ‘Name of the Year’ award, one of tonight’s top awards.
Read also: Fireworks against the Gala dello Sport: – Incomprehensible
There were initially 17 candidates, before readers voted on who they thought should go forward when the list was narrowed down to six names.
Marcela Montserrat Fonseca Bustos, leader of the Oslo Sports Circle, is very critical of the fact that among the six finalists there are only white male athletes.
– Really, NRK? Have a vote where we end up with six white male athletes in the final?? Detracts the shine from the prize and poorly done the finalists! Because in sport we say sporting joy for EVERYONE!, writes Bustos on Twitter.
Hail the reactions
Bustos was quickly met with criticism and dissent to her statement. Several reacted strongly both to her feeling it was wrong to limit applicants to six people and to her criticism that only white male performers remained.
– I have great respect for you, but here I think you are really missing the mark. If the six who, according to criteria and evaluation, have achieved the best results in 2022 are male and white athletes, it is these six who should be voted on, sports commentator Lars Tjærnås replies on Twitter.
– Open voting available to ALL carried out by NRK throughout the week – the narrowing makes perfect sense. Male and white? Rhetorical disc boom. For many reasons, writes UNO X CEO Jens Haugland in response to Bustos.
NRK itself also took to Twitter to respond to Bustos:
– The public itself votes for the finalists for the “Name of the Year” award. Voting has been open all week and there have been women right up to the last part. Last year it was Maren Lundby who won this award.
Erling Braut Haaland finished as the winner of The “Name of the Year” award.
Discover all the winners here: Here are all the winners of the Gala dello Sport
Expand the criticism
Asked by Nettavisen who she thinks should have been among the finalists at the expense of the six nominees, Bustos clarifies that she believes all six nominees would have been worthy winners and that the statement is about diversity in the sports family.
– I think it took a bit of the shine out of the selection, when you have six male candidates. All of them are worthy winners, but you miss out on the breadth and diversity of the sports family. I think it turned out to be unfortunate, because you got a very limited result, Bustos tells Nettavisen.
When asked why he problematized the fact that there were only white men among the finalists, despite none of the original 17 candidates being of foreign origin, he replies that that issue is part of a bigger picture, which he believes becomes another discussion. .
He goes on to say that the criticisms are mostly aimed at NRK and he strongly disagrees that the number of candidates has been reduced from 17 to six.
– There were 17 people considered worthy candidates. They have shown the breadth of Norwegian sports and when many people recognize each other, there are many who can come together and look forward to this award.
– NRK has chosen this format with the vote, where anything can happen. So it will be very tight I think. Why can’t we enjoy all 17?
She took the criticism herself, which she thought was much harsher than it should have been.
– The nice thing about democracy is that people can say what they think. But maybe she went a little over the edge.
