Norwegian bronze medalist confesses to cheating on his ex-girlfriend during Winter Olympics interview
When Sturla Holm Laegreid won the bronze medal for Norway in Tuesday’s 20-kilometre individual biathlon at the Winter Olympics, nobody was surprised to see tears in his eyes. After all, it’s a very emotional moment, securing a place on the Olympic podium for your country. His post-race interview with Norway’s state broadcaster NRK shed more light on the waterworks, with Laegreid admitting to having lost “the love of [his] life” after cheating on her, ESPN reported.
If you’re thinking this is TMI, you’re not alone. The athlete explained he had met his girlfriend six months ago, calling her “the world’s most beautiful, sweetest person”. Three months in, he said while fighting back tears, “I made the biggest mistake of my life and cheated on her.”
He said he’d confessed a week before the race, adding, “It’s been the worst week of my life.”
“I had a gold medal in my life, and there are probably many who look at me with different eyes, but I only have eyes for her,” Laegreid said wishing he could share his victory with his now ex-girlfriend.
“I’m not ready to give up. I hope that committing social suicide might show her how much I love her,” NBC News reported the athlete saying. “I accept the consequences of what I’ve done. I regret it with all my heart. Maybe I’m dumb as a rock.”
Obviously, this was all anyone could talk about when it came to Norway and the Winter Olympics — despite the fact that Laegreid’s teammate Johan-Olav Botn took home the gold medal in the same race.
The guilt-ridden athlete recognised this at a later press conference, telling journalists, “Now I hope I didn’t ruin Johan’s day. Maybe it was really selfish of me to give that interview. So yeah, I don’t know. I was, I’m a bit, I don’t know… I’m not really here mentally.”
X users were understandably not kind in their reactions to the whole situation, with one calling the whole thing “emotional manipulation” and hoping Laegreid’s ex-girlfriend never speaks to him again.
Another said cheaters acted like “victims of their own decisions”.
One user just said, “Ugh men” and yeah, that sounds about right.
On a serious note, no matter how sorry he may be, the fact remains that Laegreid failed to be faithful, breaking one of the most basic rules of any relationship. Announcing his infidelity to the world, no matter his intent, likely caused his ex additional distress and was probably not the best idea.
While we can’t comment on how much of his bizarre statement the athlete means, or on whether or not he deserves a second chance — both of which his ex needs to figure out — we think he was onto something when he said that thing about rocks…
Cover photo: Reuters
