Palander criticizes authorities after he's dropped from list of funded athletes

Palander criticizes authorities after he’s dropped from list of funded athletes{mosimage}Kalle Palander, Finland’s top alpine skier, has lashed out at the Finnish government over its decision to withdraw his funding, the Iltalehti tabloid said on Thursday.

Finland’s education ministry has, since 1995, paid a tax-free stipend of 12,000 euros ($14,600) annually to a number of athletes to boost their medal chances at international competitions. When the latest list of recipients was released on Tuesday, slalom specialist Palander was not included, despite last season becoming the first Finn to win a World Cup crown. Palander also won the first World Cup slalom of this season at Park City, Utah, on November 23.

“I was steamed,” Palander, one of Finland’s top medal hopes for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, told the paper. “I’m not in much of a mood to go to the Olympics.”

Also excluded were top ski jumpers Matti Hautamaki and Janne Ahonen, along with alpine skier Sami Uotila.

A senior advisor at the education ministry, Hannu Tolonen, told Reuters some of Finland’s top winter athletes had not been awarded grants because of the substantial cash prizes they receive in World Cup competition.

But Palander was unimpressed. “I’ve worked for quite a number of years, and if one season goes a little bit better, it doesn’t make up for what my father has spent (on my training),” Palander told the paper.