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WINTER OLYMPICS

Norwegian Winter Olympics superstar Marit Bjørgen to retire

Norway's legendary biathlete Marit Bjørgen, who won a record eighth gold medal at the Winter Olympics in February, on Friday said she would call it quits at the age of 38.

Published: 6 April 2018 13:13 CEST
Updated: 6 April 2018 15:18 CEST
Norwegian Winter Olympics superstar Marit Bjørgen to retire
Norwegian biathlon legend Marit Bjørgen. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB scanpix

“I don't feel I have the motivation required to give 100 percent for another season, that's why I'm quitting,” she told public broadcaster NRK.

“I thought it would be easier to say. I'm emotional. It has been an epoch in my life, over 20 years. So it's a bit special to say that this is my last season as an elite athlete,” she said.

Bjørgen underlined her status as an all-time great in the sport at the games in Pyeongchang, South Korea earlier this year, when she grabbed a record-extending 15th Winter Olympics medal, winning the 30km cross country to put Norway top of the final medals table.

The Olympian had earlier become the most successful winter games competitor of all time by finishing third in the team sprint free.

Her bronze with Maiken Caspersen Falla put her on 14 Olympic medals, outstripping fellow Norwegian Ole Einar Bjørndalen, who has 13 in the biathlon.

Bjørgen is also the second most successful woman at either the Summer or Winter Games, trailing only Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina with 18 medals.

She was showered with tributes from fellow athletes, and politicians, after the news broke on Friday.

“She was terribly important to me, she was my idol,” said Therese Johaug, a seven-time world champion and former Olympic gold medallist who was suspended after failing a drug test.

“You have been a source of inspiration and a role model, you made us jump with joy and scream with excitement,” former Norwegian Prime Minister and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on his Twitter account.

Bjørgen claimed her first World Cup victory in Dusseldorf in October 2002 and her first Olympic medal (silver) in Salt Lake City the same year.

She gave birth to her first and only son, Marius, in 2015.

Norway, a country of 5.2 million people, enjoyed a barnstorming Winter Olympics, breaking the United States' 2010 record of 37 medals at a single winter games.

Bjørndalen, the most decorated male Winter Olympian in history, also announced his retirement this week, saying he would quit at the end of the season at the age of 44.

READ ALSO: 'We are not super-human': the secret to Norway's Olympic success

WINTER OLYMPICS

Italy vs Sweden: Who will host the 2026 Winter Olympics?

International Olympic Committee members will decide on Monday between bids by Stockholm-Are and Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo in the race to host the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

Published: 24 June 2019 15:49 CEST
Italy vs Sweden: Who will host the 2026 Winter Olympics?
Cortina d'Ampezzo, which hosted the Winter Games in 1956. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

The vote to choose a winner from the Swedish and Italian rivals is expected to be closer than the 2015 vote when Beijing beat the Kazakh city Almaty to land the 2022 Winter Games.

READ ALSO: Polls show Italians more enthusiastic about Winter Games bid than Swedes

On the road to the 2026 decision, bids from Calgary, Graz in Austria, Japan's Sapporo and Sion in Switzerland have fallen by the wayside, mainly because of concerns over the cost or a lack of popular support. A bid by the Turkish ski resort of Erzurum was ruled out by the IOC in October 2018.

The bid by Stockholm and the Are ski area — which hosted the World Ski Championships in February — appeared to be running out of steam a few months ago due to a lack of funding commitments, but the government has now swung behind it.

On the eve of the vote, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said after meeting IOC president Thomas Bach: “Sweden is ready to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2026 and the Swedish government is very supportive.”


Sweden presents its bid. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

“While organising a great Games, we can end the age of extremely costly Olympics that threaten welfare spending and leave a trail of underused structures and public resentment,” the Swedish prime minister said. “You wanted change; we will deliver this change.” 

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte followed the Swedes with his pitch for Milan on Monday.

“Our bid is worthy of the highest consideration,” Conte told delegates. “If Italy is chosen, then work will start from this evening so that our Games leave a mark on history.

“This is the dream of an entire country, and not only the government but also the regions.”

Italy's champion skier Sofia Goggia was in Lausanne to back the Italian bid. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

Italian Olympic 500m short track speed skating champion Arianna Fontana highlighted the climate advantages of the bid. “Milan-Cortina will be the sunny part of the Winter Olympics, with an average ten hours of sunlight every day,” she said.

Michela Moioli, Olympic snowboard champion in 2018, added: “The whole country believes in us; it's your turn to believe in us.” 

A total of 82 IOC members are reportedly likely to cast votes in the ballot to decide the host city, meaning a simple majority of 42 will be required to win.

Italy has twice hosted the Winter Olympics — in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo and 2006 in Turin. Sweden has only hosted the Summer Olympics, in 1912 in Stockholm. 

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