– The fact that he chose to go public in an interview and lied that I haven’t apologized for bringing himself up and blackmailing me when it wasn’t true … That says a lot about a person.

Powerlifting profile Hilde Mikkelsen Haugen has once again had to take the magazine out of his mouth and direct harsh criticism at the Norwegian Powerlifting Association.

Earlier this month, NRK reported on the ongoing conflict between the two sides, which has left Haugen now without a place in the national team.

The statement by association sporting director Lars Edvin Samnøy in the NRK case mentioned above made Haugen shake his head. He believes that Samnøy lied in the interview.

– Okay, we disagree on things, I can live with that. But when someone chooses to do it that way, it says so much about that person. I’ve also been out loud and critical, but I’ve never said anything I can’t vouch for, the powerlifter tells NRK.

Thought he had proof

Haugen won European Championship gold at the end of last year, and he has been part of the national team for several years, but he has not represented Norway in the recent championships.

To understand the conflict that now means that he is without a national team place, we have to go back to November.

Then Haugen published a post on Facebook, in which he criticized his own union. He wrote, among other things, that he felt “more opposed than appreciated by the management of the national team”.

Haugen himself understood that he had gone too far, so he apologized via email to, among other things, the association’s sporting director. A few months later, he sent another email in which he apologized, but in the NRK interview, Samnøy still claims that he never apologized.

– That is not true. He has no regrets, and he is now showing that he has not developed, his words are heard.

And this is what now leads Haugen to accuse the sporting director of lying.

– So you mean Samnøy lied in the interview with NRK?

– Yes, I mean. It was very clear in the email I sent.

NRK has noticed that an email has been sent to the email address of Lars Edvin Samnøy, among others.

NRK has confronted Samnøy with all of Haugen’s statements, including that he accused him of lying, but he does not want to answer any accusations. The sporting director referred more to the official statement from the Norwegian Weightlifting Association, which was signed by the president of the association Inger Blikra.

– We do not fully acknowledge the presentations he gave, he wrote, among other things.

You can read the full statement in the box below:

– Banned for life

After the infamous Facebook update in November, and the first apology via email, the parties were advised to meet to talk, but the invitation to the meeting with the federal leadership came with some conditions, Haugen claims.

Samnøy demanded an apology, something Haugen said he had accepted, but according to the 30-year-old, it was also not allowed to take anything away from the conflict that had occurred.

– The criteria for the meeting are first and foremost that the reason exists – that something. Number two is not to talk about what happened. We’re just going to talk about how wonderful and wonderful things will be. It made me say “no thanks, I’m not interested in that”.

– The place (for the meeting) I don’t think will lead anywhere. “It would only impose guilt on me, it was very one-way on their part,” he added.

Since the weightlifter did not want to meet these requirements, he was also not offered a new national team contract. Haugen said he was willing to “clean and tidy up”, but would not get the chance to do so as long as Samnøy was sport manager.

– As long as he decides, I’ll probably be banned for life.

So childish

Haugen said Samnøy responded to the apology, and thought that he does not show any reconciliation and that is not possible with the return of the national team.

– The focus is more on me making an apology that he thinks is fair, rather than responding to criticism. And then silence at a meeting where it is not allowed to address the problem … I think it’s cowardly and not a joke. Then we sit there again. How is that going to get things done?

– What do you think about that?

– I lay as flat as possible. I think it’s very childish. It was said that he didn’t really want to clean. He had decided.

Although Haugen is now out of the national team, the plan is to compete during NM week, which you can watch NRK this week. The championship with the national team, however, will have to wait, as the situation is now.

– I don’t think the punishment I received was commensurate with what I did. I want some other adults to work too, the European Championship winner concludes.