Ella Junnila criticizes the depiction of athletics

A high jumper Ella Junnila expressed a perhaps somewhat surprising opinion about the hot topic of the athletics summer.

The European Championships in Birmingham will be filmed using new principles. In June, the European Broadcasting Union EBU and the European Athletics Association EA published a policy on how women’s athletics should be portrayed in the future.

The organizations wanted to remove close-ups and slow motions of intimate body parts that “sexualize” women. They wanted more pictures where the strength and skill of the athletes come to the fore.

High jump was used as one of the example sports in the line-up. “Negative” and “positive angles” were defined for televising the high jump.

Junnilan the criticism is directed at two things.

About him, the instructions used too much negation, i.e. outlined what not to do. In the high jump, along with the washing water, there was an angle that Junnila likes.

“In my opinion, many forbidden corners are a really good place to film a high jump. For example, from the back corner of the mattress, you can film the entire run and crossing very nicely,” says Junnila.

“It will be a real shame if we lose these angles completely.”

Such an image is not a problem in itself, says Junnila.

“It’s about whether to take a slow-motion picture when the jumper is rolling on the mattress and pouting towards the camera,” he says.

He poses a philosophical question.

“If you were filmed like this, would you like it?”

Another object of criticism is how the policy was named:

Raising the Bar: Guidelines for Respectful Portrayal of Women’s Athletics.

“No! There should only be a guideline for athletics. Equality was wanted. Now it was done in fact different shooting instructions for men and women. I think it’s wrong,” says Junnila.

Jumper however, the idea of ​​the guidelines is good. He also understands that when an Ebu-wide policy is made, the instructions must be concrete.

“It is good that we are going in the direction of creating a safe workplace for athletes,” he says.

Pole star Wilma Heltelä told the Kaleva Games that videos cut from TV broadcasts had spread about him on the internet, in which his body had been photographed from the most inappropriate angles.

The phenomenon is not new to Junnila either. He has received some nasty mail.

“I’ve been sent edits. It’s not terribly nice,” he says.

Editing entities? In the mail?

“I once received a piece of cardboard with pictures of me glued on it.”

It wasn’t some nice fan scrapbook, it was outright harassment.

According to Junnila, there are so many bad pictures of her on the internet that her skin is tanned.

“I don’t focus on that.”

To Tampere Pyrinnö’s athlete competes in the women’s high jump qualifying on Thursday morning.

He has built the whole of July-August together with his coach Tia Hellebautin with, so that the training has been aimed at the European Championships in Birmingham.

“So far, the plan has worked well. The condition and performance have given the desired indications,” he says.

Olympic champion Hellebaut has a reputation as a strict and authoritarian coach. Junnila doesn’t recognize fame.

“I’ve been met in training by an empathetic coach whose approach is holistic. We do heavy training, but it hasn’t been difficult at any point, because the common thread is clear.”