Strange and not very musical – VG

It is very easy to be principled about remote doping problems. When an athlete without a red passport is revealed to have a substance in their body that definitely shouldn’t be there, value-based honor and glory isn’t exactly the first thing Norwegians think of.

That the definition of the term doping it is about the occurrence of something illegal, and does not presuppose that it has been proven that the practitioner acted deliberately, nor is it that opinion in this country has been significantly concerned with asking questions about cases abroad.

But as soon as we get down to business, it is certainly very easy to drop all that is called consistent thinking.

Sport is primarily about emotions. Of course, it would have been more emotionally pleasing if it had been possible to get away with Therese Johaug’s conviction for doping. But no matter how hard people try to put on their own Norwegian twist, the reality is that the Wada Code anti-doping rules are the same regardless of nationality.

And Therese Johaug sadly has a doping conviction.

For his part, it probably would have been nice if a punished sentence had been debated, but unfortunately decisions made in Norwegian sports ensure that the issue is regularly raised again.

The jury has now decided to award him the Egeberg Honorary Prize.

From a purely sporting point of view, there is no question that Johaug meets the criteria, based on results in cross-country skiing and running.

However, this is a difficult decision to defend, because the price has a dimension incompatible with the doping conviction.

It is the practitioner’s responsibility to keep the body free of illegal substances, and as long as the person is at fault, the violation violates a penalty. As is well known, this happened in the case of Johaug.

Whether one is included in the concept of doping therefore applies regardless of whether the judges choose to believe an explanation or not, while the length of the sentence is decided on the basis of guilt. In Johaug’s case, the result was 18 months.

In this context, in principle it would have been correct for a doping conviction and Egeberg’s honorary award to be incompatible amounts, regardless of the athlete.

Here, the jury behind the Holmenkoll medal has landed sensibly. Johaug had his medal from before the doping case, but Martin Johnsrud Sundby does not receive the award for his case. It’s okay.

In general, it will often be terribly difficult to confirm or deny an intention, and the evidence side is one of several reasons why the principle and definition are the same around the world.

Here it should also be emphasized that there are also circumstances in the specific case that show that Johaug has not delivered what we should be able to expect, even if the explanation was believed.

• When the case was broken, she escaped from her exercise responsibility, and appeared to openly deny when she claimed that she had to continue to trust the doctor.
• In an interview with Østlendingen, Johaug had previously stated that “I never accept something offered or found without checking it first. Be it an ointment or a tea” and “I check both once, twice and three times”. Obviously this was not correct.
• Johaug had not completed the Anti-Doping Norway “Pure Practitioner” course, and seemed to be directly ignoring the key issues.

It should be noted that, fortunately, Johaug has given a necessary recognition of responsibility in hindsight, and there is all possible respect for how he has defended himself and re-dominated as a sports star.

But now it is the case that there is no automaticity in receiving the Egeberg Honorary Award, it is an active choice that the jury must make on a case-by-case basis. And this time they probably would have been wrong to come to a different conclusion to a strange and unmusical choice.

Therese Johaug will likely reap well-deserved honor and glory in the future. But she shouldn’t have received this award. Simply because some principles must apply no matter who you are and where you come from.