The strategy for Finnish sport did not forget about exercise

A new strategy was approved at the Olympic Committee’s General Assembly last week. According to the communication about the meeting, the strategy takes a step “towards the core of sport”, and in future the central organisation will prioritise organised sport even more. This raises questions regarding how an active lifestyle will be promoted within the Olympic Committee and the activities it leads.

While the strategy was being prepared, the rhetorical decision was made to call all physical activity sport. There are various opinions on this, but the solution is not unheard of. Within the European Union, for example, sport includes all informal or organised physical activity which is done with the aim to express or improve physical fitness and mental wellbeing, build social relationships or achieve results in competition on all levels.

Regardless of how wide the definition of sport is in the Olympic Committee’s strategy, the word choice does highlight a focus on competitive sport and striving for success in competitions. I am sure this is the wish of the national sport associations. But what does the strategy have to offer sport federations like OLL, whose work focuses on a health-promoting, active lifestyle?

The advocacy work continues, and that is the main thing

Firstly, I should state that OLL is also a sports organisation. We give students opportunities to compete in Finnish and European Championships. Finnish students also take part in World University Games and World Championships through OLL’s international mandate. The strategy fully supports this part of our Federation’s work.

During elections and budget negotiations, for example, we have run joint lobbying campaigns with the Olympic Committee to improve the conditions for students’ everyday activity and reduce sitting. I doubt this will change in any way, even if the organisation does reinvent itself a little.

The fourth goal in the strategy for sport is to promote a society with a positive attitude to physical activity. This is how the Olympic Committee defines its role in this: “Broader societal goals are supported through impactful communication and advocacy.”

We also pushed to have these points included while the strategy was being written. It was important to us that alongside the focus on sport, the strategy would also express the importance that physical activity has for society and how committed our umbrella organisation is to promoting it. We are also pleased that the strategy does not recognise only national sport associations as members.

It is, however, true that the guidelines in the strategy create a kind of vacuum in the exercise sector, and there may be some competition to fill it. For our part, OLL will fill this vacuum as the more than one-hundred-year-old umbrella organisation for students and university sports. Whether taking breaks from sitting counts as sport or not, through our Federation university students and communities are also part of the Finnish sport that is lead by the Olympic Committee.

The Olympic Committee’s strategy and other General Assembly documents can be found in the organisation’s document bank (in Finnish).