This is how Switzerland wants to find the next superstars

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Norway does. With a population of 5.4 million, the Scandinavian country is about a third smaller than Switzerland in terms of population, but it regularly surpasses larger countries in sports. In 2018, the Norwegians set an Olympic record in Pyeongchang with 39 medals. In 2022, they achieved 16 gold medals, a figure never before achieved by any country at the Winter Games.

The secret of success lies in Oslo’s northern city limits. His name: Olympic topping. A sports performance center where all threads come together – and where top athletes such as tennis star Casper Ruud, successful skier Aleksander Kilde and cross-country dominators Tiril Udnes Weng and Johannes Hösflot Kläbo find a point of contact.

Norway is just one example of progressive, efficient sports promotion work – but a good one. This is not only evident from the results, but also from proven systems. A uniform database for monitoring athletes, for example, which makes the daily lives of doctors and supervisors easier and warns professionals against overload. In Norway, it was recognized early on that the individual sports associations already have a lot to look forward to in terms of digitization, technology and sustainability – and even more so in the future.

Switzerland opts for the Helvetic route

Switzerland is also arming itself. Since the summer of 2022, Swiss Olympic has been working on a mega project in the background. It runs under the working title of “Swiss Olympic Park” – and should go its own Swiss way. The vision goes beyond the National Sports Center Magglingen. This is “not an infrastructure project”, but rather a merging and further development of existing knowledge in the country, as the Swiss umbrella organization puts it.

In addition to Magglingen, the Tenero youth sports center or the Swiss Olympic Medical Center in Bad Ragaz could also be part of the Olympic Park. Other institutions must also be brought on board. For example, Swiss Olympic strives for cooperation with universities. The project involves scientists, economists and companies, as well as experts in innovation, technology and sustainability.

«Use the Swiss playground far too little»

The idea of ​​a high-altitude training center is up in the air. Collaboration with the Lausanne University EPFL, which is strong in material development, is also possible. “There is already so much know-how in Switzerland. “Actually, we live on a playground that we still use far too little in terms of sports,” says Ralph Stöckli (46). The former top curler is project leader of the project at Swiss Olympic. What he and his employer envision is a performance-driven environment with prospects for 2040.

The steering group has now determined the thematic areas in which pilot projects will start: they are called “Holistic Performance Development – ​​Body, Mind & Material”, “Sustainable Potential and Life Development”, “Sustainable Sports Development” and “New Company”. another series of pilot and deepening projects – before a decision on final implementation is made in January 2024.

Everyone should benefit

Swiss Olympic wants to set new standards with the Olympic Park. Stöckli emphasizes that the planned synergy network should not only provide added value for the athletes, but also for Switzerland as a location and therefore for society: “If we succeed in building such competence clusters, we assume that new projects and products created, including new jobs.”

Stöckli, who also visited the Norwegian Olympia Summits model and performance centers in other countries as part of the study, says: “Swiss top sport must reinvent itself in the future.” Hippolyt Kempf (57), responsible for innovation at the Swiss Federal Institute for Sport in Magglingen, also agrees. The Olympic champion Nordic combination (1988 in Calgary) is intensively involved in the future of sport and regularly lectures on this subject. He says: “Digitization is really only taking off in Swiss sport. But it will sound. And it must also be able to justify itself when it comes to sustainability.”

In plain language: Stöckli and Co. have a lot of work to do. Future Swiss sports figureheads such as Mujinga Kambundji (30) or Marco Odermatt (25) should be able to take advantage sooner rather than later to stay on the successful track. The Swiss delegation finished the most recent Olympic edition in Beijing with 7 gold medals and a total of 15 medals – better than ever before at the Winter Games.

Health file available soon?

To improve the preconditions for the exponents, another vision of the future, which should later also be part of the project, could become a reality sooner. Swiss Olympic is considering electronic medical records for athletes. Similar to Norway, but then again a Swiss variant.

The data would be coordinated by a higher authority and no longer by each individual sports association. Practical: When traveling, every treating (emergency) doctor, every physiotherapist would be immediately aware of the health history of the athlete. The hurdle: data protection.

Here too, first of all, feedback is obtained from those involved. But the health record is like the Swiss Olympic Park: to be prepared for the future you need modern, sometimes revolutionary ideas. The difficulty is in the implementation.

Source : Blick