Weight, Well-Being and a Champion’s Absence From the Games

How difficult was it to accept that you couldn’t defend your gold medal?

It was very hard for me to realize that you cannot compete at the level you want. I have been doing this for 10 years. Last season, the last thing I did was become world champion. So not competing this season is a big difference.

Many ski jumpers go to great lengths, often unhealthily, to lose weight for competition. What would it have cost you to do that?

I don’t know, to be honest. I don’t know if I could have handled it. It feels like my body is fighting against me right now. I have talked to many doctors. It doesn’t have a diagnosis, but it can happen to people who push to lose weight for a long time. It’s getting harder and harder to lose weight. This is how our bodies become more efficient and try to fight against it. That is proven. That was my problem.

Speaking about his decision, he joined a growing number of athletes who are opening up about their mental health and physical well-being.

I think it’s very important. If younger athletes look at their idols, they think that everything is sunshine, that everything is perfect. But to get to the top and win Olympic medals and stuff, maybe you have to do some things that you don’t want to do. And it’s hard work over many years and of course that can be very hard on mental health.

I wanted to tell young athletes not to do things in an unhealthy way, not to suffer.

I felt like it sparked a discussion in our sport, but also in other sports, because weight is part of a lot of sports and we don’t talk about it enough in the media. I think people appreciated that I started a conversation about it.

So how did it feel to be voted ‘name of the year’ last month by the Norwegian public?

It was really a great honor because I was voted by the people. In the final, he was competing with world stars in the biggest sports. It made me think that I did something right when I talked about my problems. I was surprised, sure, but it felt really good. And it gave me a lot of motivation to work in the future and come back even stronger than before.