{"id":290653,"date":"2026-02-14T08:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T08:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/290653\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T08:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T08:03:13","slug":"biathletes-infidelity-confession-that-rocked-the-winter-olympics-and-norway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/290653\/","title":{"rendered":"Biathlete\u2019s infidelity confession that rocked the Winter Olympics \u2013 and Norway"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A week ago, Sturla Holm Laegreid lived a pretty anonymous life.<\/p>\n

He was a fairly well-known biathlon athlete, someone you would only have heard of if you followed winter sports, but not a household name, even in his native Norway.<\/p>\n

When he uttered the immortal words, \u201cThree months ago, I made my biggest mistake and cheated on her\u201d, Laegreid, a seven-time world champion, introduced himself and his personal life to the world, creating a story that has made global headlines.<\/p>\n

Laegreid\u2019s confession that he had cheated on his now ex-girlfriend, an admission he made shortly after winning bronze in the 20km individual biathlon race at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, garnered attention around the world.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t seen, read, or heard about it, Laegreid decided to use a very public moment to share some very private thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been the worst week of my life,\u201d Laegreid said, speaking to NRK<\/a>, a Norwegian broadcaster. \u201cThere\u2019s someone I wanted to share it with who might not be watching. Six months ago, I met the love of my life \u2014 the most beautiful and kindest person in the world.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Sturla Holm Laegreid with his bronze (Alexander Hassenstein\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the gold medal in life, and I am sure there are many people who will see things differently, but I only have eyes for her. Sport has come second these last few days. Yes, I wish I could share this with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not surprising, perhaps, that such an intimate confession went viral in the United States and across the United Kingdom and Europe, given the mixture of sport, love, heartache and infidelity. But how big has the tale been in Norway, at the epicentre of the tale?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been absolutely massive,\u201d Frode Buanes, head of sports at Norwegian tabloid newspaper VG, says.<\/p>\n

VG has since put itself at the middle of the narrative by interviewing (anonymously) Laegreid\u2019s ex-girlfriend<\/a>. Both the original story when Laegreid made his confession and the follow-up interview with his former partner were the most-read stories on VG\u2019s website on those two days.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s despite the Norwegian news cycle being dominated by the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein scandal and the high-profile figures linked in the latest files, while Marius Borg Hoiby, the eldest son of Norway\u2019s crown princess, is currently on trial for charges including rape, assault and filming women without their consent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe news cycle is extreme at the moment, but this interview managed to be the top story in Norway for two consecutive days,\u201d Buanes added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact this happened live on TV helped make it so big. The atmosphere when the interview broke here\u2026 I was at the sports desk when one of my colleagues shouted out, \u2018He\u2019s admitted to his infidelity!\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cA gasp just swept through the newsroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so absurd in a way. For a northern European country like Norway, the Winter Olympics is a massive event and people pay attention whenever we win gold medals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen that interview so many times, and you just see the switch when he turns into it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said he had prepared it, which is fascinating in itself. The story attracted so much attention because many people reflected on whether this was a good idea or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry for cheating\u201d, read the VG headline when the interview was first aired<\/a>, with a sub-heading of, \u201cMaybe I\u2019m dumb as a rock\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Of all VG\u2019s Winter Olympic articles this year, stories about Laegreid\u2019s interview and the resulting fallout are second, third and fourth on the most-read list, only behind Lindsey Vonn\u2019s crash<\/a> during the women\u2019s downhill final (the American skier has a Norwegian coach, Aksel Lund Svindal).<\/p>\n

Social media has been full of Laegreid memes, while during Norway\u2019s biggest radio debate show, two relationship experts discussed the merits of his confession.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the shock of somebody telling such a personal thing on live TV for the world,\u201d Buanes says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen there\u2019s a second layer: how you would feel if that was your partner saying that, or if you would say it yourself? Everyone has had heartache and wanted to get someone back. There\u2019s a human element to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laergried won a second bronze in the men\u2019s biathlon 10km sprint on Friday, only to be mocked by a rival.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s Emilien Jacquelin, who finished fourth, joked about the Norwegian after the race. \u201cI was beaten by an unfaithful guy,\u201d the 30-year-old joked to VG<\/a>.<\/p>\n

VG\u2019s interview with Laegreid\u2019s ex-partner told a different side to a very personal story. She told the publication it would be \u201chard to forgive\u201d him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not choose to be put in this position, and it hurts to have to be in it,\u201d the publication quoted her as saying. \u201cWe have had contact, and he is aware of my opinions on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laegreid\u2019s words have understandably caused a backlash, not just because of the position he put his ex-partner in, but partly for taking attention away from team-mate Johan-Olav Botn, who won gold. Mostly, though, the furore came because of the position he put his ex-partner in.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy the Post-Breakup Grand Gesture Needs to Die,\u201d Cosmopolitan<\/a> sidled in with, criticising an \u201cOlympic-sized version of the unnecessarily public, post-egregious-offence grand gesture\u201d.<\/p>\n

Laegreid has since apologised to both via a Norwegian team statement.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Laegreid won a second bronze on Friday (Photo: Harry How\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Norway, the sympathy is with his ex-girlfriend,\u201d Buanes adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe contacted her, I think we\u2019re the only media outlet to do that, and we told her we would grant her anonymity. We also said we felt an obligation to give her a chance to say her perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe reflected well on it. Sturla has been telling his team-mates he was sorry he did this, because he realised pretty soon he took the spotlight away from his team-mate winning Olympic gold.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been successful in hiding her identity, but I can tell you on record, we have been contacted by tabloids that want to buy her identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been really respectful to her. In a way, I feel a responsibility to protect Sturla as well. There were a lot of emotions going through his head at the time. I feel an obligation to take it easy on him from now on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics. A week ago, Sturla Holm Laegreid lived a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[93451,85,46,6661,105],"class_list":["post-290653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-global-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-olympics","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}