– The status is that I am a little unsure whether I will stay in Norway or continue my training in Georgia. I don’t know if I’ll keep going for four more years, win a WC or two, and then I’ll be done. It all depends on how the arrangement with the wrestling association turns out for both me and the rest of the national team girls. This is what wrestler Grace Bullen tells news in the arrivals hall at Oslo Airport on Monday evening. In recent years, the Fredrikstad wrestler has spent far more time in Georgia than in Norway. There, she has trained on her own in preparation for the Paris Olympics. WON A MEDAL: Grace Bullen with the bronze medal from the Olympics in Paris. Photo: AFP It resulted in a bronze medal, but whether she aims for a new medal on the mat in Los Angeles in four years is therefore highly uncertain. – We need a safe place and feel like we are at home. Holding on for so long is also mentally exhausting, says Bullen about the uncertainty. – It’s not just about me, the 27-year-old broke with the wrestling association in 2021, but Bullen and the association found their way back to each other with an agreement which, among other things, said that she would be allowed to train in Georgia with her own coach. That agreement lasted until the Paris Games. – I have had a good time in the last year and a half with a coach, an association and the Olympiatoppen who have supported me. We’ll see if we can continue like this. But this is not just about me, but about the rest that comes after, says Bullen. DISPUTE: Grace Bullen has been in a long-standing conflict with the wrestling association. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB She continues: – I want to have a whole. Getting a medal in the Olympics could help my cause further, so hopefully things will go better for us going forward. Should have Bullen conversation Incoming sports manager in the wrestling association, Erling Strand, tells news that the plan is for the parties to talk together this week. At the same time, he reveals that they are in dialogue with Bullen’s successful coach, Georgian Zurab Iakobishvili. – The latest is that we have agreed and will be called within a day or two. Now there has been full focus on Paris and implementing it. Then we have to do an evaluation with Grace and the trainer about what has been good and not good. We have also worked for the last two or three months with Zura (Zurab Iakobishvili, coach) and had a chat to land a further contract with him as coach. – Has the dialogue focused on him becoming coach for Bullen or on him becoming national team coach for Norway? SPORTS DIRECTOR: Incoming sports director in the wrestling association, Erling Strand, is positive before the talks with Team Bullen. Photo: NTB – The dialogue we have had is that he should also get closer to Othelie Høie and that we can use his expertise to lift the girls behind Brace. Then we have to find out what that means in practice in terms of presence in Norway, he replies. Høie, like Bullen, represents the wrestling club BK Atlas in Fredrikstad. Høie has won a total of four NM golds in the period 2020–2024. – Bullen says she needs a safe place to be and feel at home. What do you think about it? – I think that safety is a fundamental pillar in doing sport and performance. I think that is a very reasonable statement. We have to achieve that together with Grace and Zura as coaches, Strand answers. – Incredibly motivated Bullen was among those who contributed to a real super Saturday in the Olympics with five Norwegian medals in one day. The Norwegian wrestler took bronze after crushing Ana Paula Godinez Gonzalez from Canada. – Does it provide motivation to continue? – I am incredibly motivated. But there is a lot that needs to fall into place. You can’t just run with your head straight ahead. If it doesn’t work, there will be a couple more years of wrestling, and I also hope that I have helped write a long history for Norwegian women’s wrestling. Published 12.08.2024, at 19.51 Updated 12.08.2024, at 19.58
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Grace Bullen is unsure whether she is aiming for a new Olympics – the Paris 2024 Olympics
