Now she is back in the World Cup, she who has contributed more and more strongly to transparency around the extremely sensitive weight issue in sport than anyone else. Maren Lundby is the one who finally managed and had the courage to put into words the struggle she has gone through to push herself so far down in weight that she is able to win medals in international championships in jumping. And not least how much it has cost – psychologically, but also physically, which has made the continuous slimming process even more demanding. When the normal is not enough She gained a double-digit number of kg from the time she became the first ever world champion among women on a large hill in Oberstdorf in March 2021 until she came forward with the problems in an interview with news seven months later. In the meantime, she had shown what was perhaps the real normal version of herself (24) in Skal vi danse på TV 2. But normality is not necessarily good enough in top sport. And dancer Maren Lundby was criticized for being unprofessional by cross-country runner Emil Iversen. It obviously hurt the Olympic jumping champion. For very few, Iversen obviously not included, knew what really lay behind it. It became all the stronger when Maren Lundby told. She who a few days later danced on TV to “Smile in your own mirror” mostly had only tears to offer the outside world when she opened up about the slimming pressure in show jumping. ON THE DANCE FLOOR: Maren Lundby and her dance partner received a standing ovation after an emotional dance to “Shall we dance”. Photo: Thomas Andersen / TV 2 / TV 2 About the intense, almost desperate struggle to lose weight in time to try to win the first WC gold ever awarded to a woman after a race on a large hill . To fight against a taboo The pain of having to put it into words was obvious – but extremely important. Because weight is still an incomprehensible big taboo in top sport and associated with a shame that exacerbates the problem even further. Here, young women and boys had someone to lean on. One who, despite his apparent success, had struggled for a long time. Maren Lundby had to sit out the Olympics in Beijing, but was instead deservedly and unanimously praised for her courage, including being named Name of the Year at the Sports Gala and Peer Gynt of the Year. She already said then that she wanted to return. That she was still a ski jumper. That the dream of flying was still alive. It appeared slightly utopian. But you probably won’t become the world’s best ski jumper without a will bordering on a form of primal power. The difficult road back Last weekend was the NM, and Maren Lundby made a comeback in the context of the competition with a fourth place, still a good distance behind the best Norwegians. But Lundby has said she will return in a proper way. Closer to Christmas, she believes she will again be able to challenge the world top, she told Dagbladet earlier this week. Where she also acknowledged that she still had one big challenge: Weight. BACK IN THE AIR: She wants to return to the top of the world, but in a responsible way. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB There is something fundamentally unhealthy about the modern sport of show jumping. Simply because the physical laws have a double voice when deciding who is the best. If you are lighter, you fly further. That’s how simple – and at the same time fundamentally complicated – it is. Maren Lundby also expresses a desire to get back rules that make it possible to be several kilograms heavier and still compete at the very top. But fortunately some rules are in place to curb the pressure to lose weight. Measuring BMI has been the most important thing. If you weigh less, you have to jump on shorter skis, which in turn float less well. In addition, Olympiatoppen confirms to news a close collaboration with the show jumping team around these challenges. Time for a health certificate But there is no authorization of the condition of the jumpers, as is the case with the health certificates you must have in, among other things, cross-country and combined. If you do not meet the requirements for a health certificate, you will not be allowed to compete. It’s that simple and fair. But hop has not yet wanted to introduce it. And then you are left with the aforementioned BMI measurements and really just trust. To ensure that the necessary precautions are taken regarding the athletes’ weight and their health. That you take the consequences you should based on what the weight shows. This is not how a system can and should not work. This is at the moment and brought to the forefront such that each individual coach or manager is given the responsibility of making sure that no athletes dope, without the need for more formal checks. When you live on results, cynicism inevitably arises. If there is a path to success, you choose it whenever you can. Jumping will therefore have everything to gain from introducing a mandatory health certificate. To build the kind of trust the sport needs, internationally and here at home. Perhaps it is not just internal disputes that make sponsors reluctant to get their name on the Norwegian national team kits at the moment. A new battle against the kilos Today’s show jumping unfortunately has body ideals that make it a battle you can never quite win. Where, in theory, you can always get even lighter. But Maren Lundby is unique. And maybe can do it again. Although it immediately seems as if it violates much of the realization she shared last year, the one that made her a role model of health in a top sport with a checkered self-image. From the outside, one can only hope that it is worth it, once again having to fight against the body’s real will to try to fly, even if it is longer and more beautiful than what anyone else can do. Because show jumping is also about knowing how to land. And not least when. If you drag the hover too far, it eventually hurts.
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Do you really want this, Maren? – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
