– It was shocking to see, said NRK marksman Ola Lunde of the award.

“Jeanette Hegg Duestad has two fourth places at the Olympics and set an Olympic record, and when that wasn’t good enough for an A scholarship from the Olympic Summit, it was for me really desperate,” said Lunde.

Clear criteria

A total of 16 athletes and two teams in summer sports were awarded the Olympic Summit A scholarships in February. To get an A scholarship, there are several criteria that must be met. In Olympiatoppen . website the following results are declared to trigger scholarship A:

• Medals at the Olympics or Paralympics
• Rank among the top three at the World Cup overall in an Olympic or Paralympic sport

Duestad does not meet any of these criteria, but several athletes who do not meet these criteria have been awarded A scholarships, including Oskar Marvik, bronze medal winner of the wrestling World Championships, and Solfrid Koanda, world champion in weightlifting.

The Olympic Summit also has criteria which, upon closer consideration, may trigger an offer of an A scholarship:

• Top results in Olympics, PL, WC, in special cases EC, and/or competitions at the same level.

Duestad finished with a bronze EC and two fourth places at the Olympics. Still, he had to settle for scholarship B, which only awarded 70,000 kroner instead of the 120,000 that scholarship A awarded.

Three possibilities

The 2021 season, like many seasons, is also special for shooters. In fact, Duestad only competed internationally three times, namely in the European Cup, Olympics, and the World Cup final.

– I took European Championship bronze, two fourth places at the Olympics, and third place in the World Cup final, so in that case you’re probably top three in the world, then of course boring you only get a B scholarship, Duestad told NRK.

– There may be some criteria there that don’t fully match the sport of shooting.

He himself described it as “a little boring” not to receive an A scholarship. He was just as concerned about the people who “followed” him.

– Sport is not where you live in Norway, especially in the smaller sports. You should try to work for those who come after you too, he said.

– Doesn’t live very fast

– What do you live in?

– I live on a salary from the federation, a scholarship from the Olympic Summit, and some sponsorship money. I have lived in the house for a while, but have moved out of the house now. But it’s nice to have a little savings there, because we don’t live like that very quickly, he said.

– What does scholarship A mean to you?

– This will mean more funds, and it will be very useful. It’s an expensive sport that we do and every penny that comes in counts positively.

Ola Lunde has no doubt that the A scholarship will be very important to Duestad.

– They may sacrifice four or eight years of their life, and put off education, to try to win an Olympic medal. A scholarship like that will mean a lot and can allow you to invest more and be better, say experts

– Below the poverty line

Sporting director Tor Idar Aune at the Norwegian Shooting Federation missed Duestad and Jon Hermann Hegg on the A scholarship list. He called it a matter of principle.

– We see that Hegg and Duestad get some funding here in an adaptation because Olympiatoppen sees that the B scholarship may be less than what the athletes deserve. They are still slaves according to their criteria and define it as a B, he said.

Aune said she didn’t want to take a scholarship from any practitioner, but missed out on a bigger pot.

– People don’t understand that most of the top athletes have no income and don’t live very good lives. Most live below the poverty line, at least for my practitioners, he said For one.

– Then it is not easy to make the understanding that the pot must be upgraded to a top sport. “At the same time, we know that the public and sponsors and you journalists want us to be successful at the Olympics,” he said.

“Difficult case”

Marit Breivik, head of summer sports at Olympiatoppen, stressed to NRK that an athlete must be on the podium at a championship in which the world’s elite participates to receive an A scholarship. He called Duestad a “difficult case”.

– Without having to go into detail here, let’s take a look at the criteria, and he has a B scholarship and has extra financial and professional follow-up. “So we can see the criteria, he’s on top of the world, then we’ll see if getting on the podium is too tight or not,” said Breivik.

– Can you imagine that his candidacy could be reassessed as an A scholarship recipient?

– I don’t want to consider that here, but we’ve finished processing the case there when it comes to rifle shooters. “He has a partner who also finished fourth at the Olympics, so we have two there in fourth place, and I think we have met very positively,” he said.