Åsa Edlund Jönsson took office as the new Secretary General of the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) in February.
In one of her first interviews at the post, she says that one of her most important jobs will be to ensure that more money and resources come into Swedish elite sports.
- In Sweden, we haven't talked much about elite sports at all.
We're talking, and that's great, about broad sports and youth sports.
But we rarely talk about the conditions of elite sport.
"Elite athletes on the bare minimum"
In Sweden, the SOK receives state money for the actual implementation of the Olympics.
But the active elite athletes receive financial support the rest of the time through the so-called top and talent program, a SOK scholarship financed by sponsors.
Åsa Edlund Jönsson tells us that SOK recently conducted a survey with 200 elite athletes in Sweden.
- 44 percent of them would live on the subsistence minimum or below the subsistence minimum if they did not receive a scholarship from SOK.
16 percent live on the subsistence minimum despite receiving a scholarship from SOK.
Want to double the money
Under Åsa Edlunds Jönsson's management, SOK wants to find new partners who can help sponsor the top and talent program.
Otherwise, she believes that Sweden risks falling behind and being outcompeted by other countries in future championships.
- Today we have the total sports movement around 230 million.
We would probably have to double that to be able to compete with other countries.
See the entire interview in Min sanning on SVT Play, or Sunday 26/2 at 19:00 on SVT2.