As expected, Anna Iwarsson was elected as the new chairman at the RF's extraordinary general meeting. But the vote was delayed.
The reason was a long debate, where federation after federation took the podium and described the feeling of having been "opted out", "cheated" and "no longer seen as a real sport".
The outrage is rooted in the new financial distribution of elite sports support, where state money - tax money - is distributed via RF to the national team operations of the sports federations.
At the national sports meeting in 2021, a new elite sports program was approved, Elite Sports 2030, with the goal that Swedish sports will achieve more international successes.
The source: a British sports geek
The goal contains various criteria for continued elite sports support. And to put it simply, the losers are the sports that are outside the Olympics or Paralympics.
They are instead judged based on the "Greatest Sporting Nations", GSN. It is not an official ranking but a website run by a sports enthusiast from Great Britain - who has been unaware of his role in Swedish sports, according to Aftonbladet.
"Are like just some happy chumps"
When the distribution of elite sports support was presented for 2024 and 2025, suddenly about a third of 72 special sports associations in the RF were left out because they were not included in the GSN ranking.
- GSN is like just some happy chumps who have made a list of what they think are the most interesting sports, says Musse Hasselvall.
Dissatisfaction caused the RF board to back down
He represents budo and martial arts, one of a total of 22 associations that submitted a motion demanding changes before the meeting.
The protests had an effect: at the meeting, RF's board backed down. All confederations with national team operations must now be included in the work on Elite Sports 2030 and the decision on elite sports support for 2025 was revoked.
According to the Swedish Sports Confederation's new chairman Anna Iwarsson, the idea was never to create a split in Swedish sports:
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This is how newly elected RF chairman Anna Iwarsson responds to the criticism that emerged during the extraordinary general meeting: "Deeply unfortunate if it is perceived that way" Photo: Jesper Zerman / BILDBYRÅN