Commentary: Stronger together – as long as you don’t express too much opinion

Commentary: Stronger together – as long as you don’t express too much opinion

Karoline Knotten is questioning and challenging the training plan for the Olympic season and is dropped from the national team because she does not fully support a plan that is not yet completely clear.

OUT OF THE NATIONAL TEAM: Karoline Knotten's name was not on the list when the national team selection was announced this Thursday.

Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB

This commentary is written by NRK’s biathlon expert Marte Olsbu Røiseland, where Røiseland expresses her own opinions and viewpoints.

Norwegian society is built on the idea of thinking independently. That’s why we learn critical thinking, reflection, and independence from an early age.

When an athlete like Karoline Knotten does exactly that—asking questions, taking responsibility, and seeking professional discussions—it should be met with respect. Instead, she is excluded from the national team.

The head coach of the national team, Per Arne Botnan, says that one must be “100 percent in, or not at all.” This attitude seems to contradict the values that the Norwegian biathlon association claims to build its work upon.

Have we really come to the point where it is no longer allowed to think for oneself? Should everyone be pressed into one model—with no room for professional disagreement, individual needs, or adjustments?

Knotten stated to several media outlets that she questioned the training plan before the Olympic season—not necessarily to oppose it but to create improvement. She wanted dialogue, insight, and adjustments that could contribute to performance gains.

Such questions should have been the beginning of a constructive conversation. After what I have read in interviews with the different parties, it seems to have become the opposite.

This is not only a brutal break—it's also a stark contrast to the attitudes that the federation claims to support. And it happens in a season where Norwegian women's biathlon could desperately use an experienced and ambitious athlete like Karoline Knotten.

The federation has lifted mental health and good communication as important values. However, when an athlete is left feeling they have been lied to, and excluded without real dialogue, then credibility is weakened.

To maintain mental health, it is not just about fancy words. It is about being listened to, taken seriously, and included.

In a performance environment, there must be room to ask questions. An open discussion and different professional views are not a threat—they are a prerequisite for development. Athletes must feel ownership of what they are part of, especially in an individual sport like biathlon. When they are instead met with closed doors and demands for loyalty instead of dialogue, both engagement and trust are stifled.

When I was an active biathlete, I wanted to make adjustments to my own training schedule before important championships several times. These personal adaptations lead to my two best championships at the World Championship in Anterselva and the Olympics in Beijing.

Knotten is not disloyal, in my opinion. Here it seems she has only been engaged and wanted ownership of her own development. She asked questions not to create disruption or undermine anyone—but to become a better biathlete.

This should have been valued, not punished. When initiative and reflection are met with exclusion, it says more about the system than the athlete.

This isn’t just about one athlete. It’s about what kind of culture the Norwegian Biathlon Federation wants to create. When critical questions are met with silence and reflection is interpreted as rebellion, we are on the wrong path.

Knotten did what we want our youth to learn: to think for themselves. She does not deserve to be dropped for that.