Sebastian Samuelsson criticizes Daniel Ståhl

Daniel Ståhl called Qatar a country with "slightly different laws and just accept it."

Armand Duplantis did not want to focus on what was outside the Khalifa stadium in Doha, and stake jump colleague Angelica Bengtsson thought it was good that the championship went where it went, so that one can easily change something if one first sees the reality.

Sagittarius Sebastian Samuelsson has a hard time understanding that kind of comments.

- You just iron hair and find it. I think it's a shame and I think it's irresponsible, he says.

- I think athletes should be better at talking about things. It doesn't just have to be doping, it can be gender equality or human rights in Qatar or whatever it may be, I think you should pull your ears.

He thinks that those who competed in Qatar should have said more clearly what they thought.

- Yes, I think so, mainly because it is so obvious that everyone thinks it is wrong. Nobody thinks it is good that the Athletics World Cup goes to Qatar. And no one thinks it is slave workers who are going to build football arenas for the World Cup, but nobody ever says anything.

After the men's pole vault qualification at the World Cup in Qatar, Armand Duplantis was asked what he thought the championship was in Qatar, which was criticized for the lack of democracy and human rights.

- It's the World Cup, I'm tagged in being here. It felt good inside the arena, everything outside it I shut out, that's not my main focus. I have the biggest competition of my life ahead of me ... everything else is as it is, I can't change it, Duplantis replied.

An attitude that Samuelsson thinks is too common.

TT: Do you think more activists should take a stand?

- Yes, in general I think so, yes absolutely. I often think that you are afraid to speak out because you do not want any energy leak and you want to be able to focus on sports. But somewhere I think you have to take that responsibility, that we ourselves create the world we want to live in.

Sebastian Samuelsson himself has become a strong voice in the anti-doping work. He recently wrote a debate article on the Norwegian site Sports Politics, which received a lot of attention. There he attacked the soon-to-depart Wada chairman Craig Reedie and wrote that he completely lacked confidence in the International Anti-Doping Agency following its work on Russian doping.

- This debate article I wrote, it was quite hard language I know myself, but somewhere patience is ending, it does not happen so much so it was more a reaction to it, says Samuelsson.

Last year, Wada withdrew its suspension from the Russian anti-doping agency Rusada, in order to gain access to Rusada's data - data that has now been received, but suspicions have been manipulated.

- If it turns out that it is (manipulated) then you have to shut down the Russian anti-doping agency once more and I do not see how to send Russian athletes to Tokyo or maybe not even Beijing. I think that more sports federations should have a sneak peek at the athletics federation where they said that Russia is not welcome apart from some neutral athletes, says Samuelsson.

His strong voice in the work on doping took him last year to the White House in Washington where he was invited to a talk about anti-doping work. But he himself does not think he puts so much money on the commitment.

- It's more that when you journalists ask questions, I answer instead of ducking - it's not like I'm sitting at home writing debate articles every day. But when you say something, it gets a lot of attention because there are few who do, he says and continues:

- I see it somewhere as my responsibility as a public person and athlete, to look around and say when something is wrong. This is something that most strongly affects everything that has to do with sports, finances and everything. Therefore, I see it as my responsibility to actually talk about these things.