Latvian athletics in the financial crisis – the fault of the sport itself or the state? / Script

IN SHORT:

• Athletes complain about the higher costs of organizing competitions due to the necessary resources
• Athletics receives state support through many channels, some of them in the role of intermediaries
• Athletics hopes to determine the country’s priority sports
• Allocating additional funding to athletics could lead to confusion in other sports

In a conversation with Latvian Television, Milkevic emphasized that LVS must organize a lot of competitions and organizing them requires a lot of resources.

“In total, there are 20 Latvian championships for all age groups a year. What makes us unique is that we need 70 judges in the stadium at the same time. The costs for organizing one competition are very high,” said Milkevic. “Looking at the criteria of the Council of Latvian Sports Federations, all federations have their own activities, but it is probably a little cheaper to organize a checkership than to organize an athletics championship.”

It would be an exaggeration to say that athletics would not be appreciated by the state.

Athletics, like no other sport, boasts almost every possible budget injection.

Athletics is found in most sports schools, and the state subsidizes the salaries of youth athletics coaches. Athletics can also be found at the state-run Murjāņi Sports Gymnasium. The athletes are in the Latvian Olympic unit and receive a benefit from the Latvian Olympic Social Fund.

The state also financially supports the organization of athletics competitions. LVS also receives state grants through the Olympic Committee and the Council of Sports Federations.

Usually LVS has been one of the most generously subsidized Latvian sports federations. Its annual reports show that, until recently, grants amounted to more than half a million euros a year. Milkevic explained that in part of the grants LVS was only an intermediary who transfers money to another member of the union. In addition

funding for international athletics umbrella organizations, which is no longer available, once contributed.

“It’s a very good question about international funding. It has been zero for us for three years now, because we are on the list of economically developed countries that are no longer funded by international and European athletics associations,” said Milkevich.

The Secretary General of LVS pointed out that last year he managed to attract 124,000 euros from private supporters. This leads to the conclusion that the Athletics Union is highly dependent on grants and is not in a position to compete on its own merits with other sports federations.

“Asking for money for sports is quite difficult. Also for supporters. We will not be naive – to support the victims of war or to support athletics – there are probably no two thoughts,” Milkevic admitted. “But for us, too, it’s the survival stage we’re in right now.”

Athletics coach Viktors Lācis admits that LVS has always been in the role of a beggar.

“You have to ask the municipalities all the time to take them away [sportistus] to world or European championships, “said Lācis.

Coach Lācis believes that only the identification of priority sports, which has been postponed at the national level, can save athletics. In his opinion, the priority sports should be determined separately in the Ministry of Education and Science, the Latvian Olympic Committee and the Council of Latvian Sports Federations.

“We see that we are losing children. A lot of children. It’s not just because of the covid. It’s because we have no priorities,” said Bear. “The Latvian Athletics Union cannot normally hold competitions because they have no money.”

LVS Board Member Ieva Zunda believes that it is not the right principle to transfer state funding to public organizations, in this case the Olympic Committee, the Council of Sports Federations and the Association of Team Sports Games.

“These three organizations are redistributing money. All three are public organizations that are also fighting for the votes of the electorate,” Zunda explained. “In my opinion, this results in it being distributed as evenly as possible to all federations, without prioritizing.”

According to the criteria of the Latvian Council of Sports Federations (LSFP)

Athletics ranks 2nd in the sport and receives the second largest state grant through the LSFP. However, its size is relatively small,

because state grants are distributed to 86 different federations. In order to obtain additional funds from the state budget, LVS will apply to the National Sports Council.

The allocation of additional funding promises to be a very sensitive issue: a decision unfavorable to athletes could seriously undermine the competition calendar and the international circulation of athletes. On the other hand, in the event of a decision in favor of athletics, the brawl for such extraordinary support could start to be raised by other federations, which also lack their own worries and problems.

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