The high-rise debate: – – Parents wanted to buy success

– What was scary, was that some overzealous parents wanted to buy themselves more success.

This is what Tom Nilsen says, who was involved in preparing a high-rise building for a caravan for Bjørn Dæhlie in 1996.

It was Olympiatoppen who took the initiative for the project, so that Dæhlie could have as much time as possible at home with the family, before a World Cup in Granåsen the following season. This is confirmed by Arne Lier to Dagbladet, who was coordinator at the Olympic summit for the caravan.

The carriage was little used anyway, they both claim.

Nilsen does not dare to say exactly how many inquiries he received. But that it was almost 50 pieces, he is reasonably sure.

– I actually got shut up by people who wondered if I was not interested in selling and making money, by selling such caravans, he says, who says that people were willing to give quite a lot of money for the caravan sketches.

– But I said that was not the case.

Going to the sports council

The debate about simulated height has long been discussed in Norwegian sports.

Earlier in April, the Sports Board confirmed that they support the proposal from the Norwegian Athletics Association to lift the distinctive Norwegian ban from 2003.

On Saturday, the case that divides Sports Norway will be considered at the Sports Council.

Both Ski Association, The Biathlon Federation and the Biathlon Federation support the proposal.

The Handball Association is against.

The gray area in the debate is that the use of high-rise buildings is internationally legal, but then there are different perceptions of what is the right thing to do.

Some of those who oppose the lifting of the ban are handball presidents Kåre Geir Lio and former Wada boss Rune Andersen. It also emerged when Trøndelag Idrettskrets had a high-rise debate earlier this week.

– I am basically against everything that transports top sports from children’s and youth sports. It is important for us to take care of the Norwegian sports model, he said Kåre Geir Lio to Dagbladet earlier in May.

– The world has moved forward

Tom Nilsen describes wild conditions, when the use of simulated height was still legal in Norway.

The pressure eventually became so high that the project was put on ice, Nilsen says.

When asked if he fears similar conditions if the decision is overturned in parliament tomorrow, he answers the following:

– The world has moved forward. But it has also progressed in other ways. It had not come as far with research on blood values ​​25 years ago, as it has done today, he says.

– I do not know if it will take off extremely, but I think it will take off a lot. There are always people who think it helps, if you do something like that. Some people believe in a pair of sneakers as well, not those who are wearing them.

Nilsen nevertheless emphasizes that when he finished the caravan in 1996, he also finished the whole debate.

– I did not expect it to ever come up again, until it flared up now.

– Divided opinions

The pros and cons are many.

Some claimed the same thing 25 years ago, that top athletes get more days at home with family, if they do not have to go abroad to seek altitude.

Gjert Ingebrigsten is one of those who believe that it will create equal conditions for Norway in relation to other nations.

Rune Andersen, on the other hand, believes that high-rise buildings are used by practitioners who want to cheat. That it will help to manipulate the blood values, which in turn will be a side effect of the abolition.

If it is decided at the Sports Council on Saturday that the high-rise building ban will be lifted, a separate committee will look into the matter before the ban is lifted.

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