MILAN – Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid won his second bronze medal of the Olympics on Friday, and this time kept his focus on his athletic feats.
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Laegrid made waves earlier in the Milan Cortina Games when, after winning a bronze in the men’s biathlon 20-kilometer individual event, he admitted to cheating on his girlfriend in an effort to win her back.
On Friday, Laegrid again won bronze in the men’s 10-kilometer sprint, but opted against making any grand romantic gestures in his post-event comments.
“This is what I’ve been doing my whole life. I’ve been training to focus for many years now, and it’s paying off,” Laegrid said about keeping his focus amid the self-created controversy.
He added: “I’m just working with what I can do, one step at a time, one shooting at a time, and trying to stay focused.”
On Tuesday, following his first bronze of the Olympics, Laegrid admitted to cheating on his girlfriend three months ago, a woman he described as “the love of [his] life, the most beautiful and kindest person.”
“I had a gold medal in life, and there’s probably a lot of people out there who look at me differently now, but I only have eyes for her,” Laegrid told Norwegian Broadcasting Corp (NRK). “Sports has taken a bit of a back seat these past couple of days. Yeah, I wish I could share this with her.”
Laegrid’s ex-girlfriend responded in the press the next day.
“I did not choose to be put in this position, and it hurts to have to be in it. We have had contact and he is aware of my opinions on this,” the woman told the Norwegian outlet VG. “[I am grateful] to my family and friends who have embraced me and supported me during this time. Also to everyone else who has thought of me and sympathized, without knowing who I am.”
The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, added that Laegrid’s actions three months ago were “hard to forgive, even after a declaration of love in front of the whole world.”
Laegrid, 28, is competing in his second Winter Olympics. He won a gold medal in Beijing in 2022 in the biathlon relay event.
On Tuesday, he explained his decision to go public with his personal life in an effort to do whatever it took to win his girlfriend back.
“Today I made the choice to tell the world what I did, so maybe, maybe there is a chance that she will see what she really means to me,” Laegrid told reporters after winning bronze. “And maybe not, but I don’t want to think I didn’t try everything to get her back.”
