In the book “The whole story”, Therese Johaug says that for periods in 2010 and 2011 she struggled to get enough nutrition and that her weight dropped. She received a clear warning that she could lose both the Tour de Ski and, in the worst case, the WC on her home ground in Holmenkollen. The team’s captain, Marit Bjørgen, also noticed that the 22-year-old girl from Dalsbygda had become thinner. She immediately took action. – I saw that she was losing weight, so I sent in a report of concern to the team’s nutritionist Heidi Holmlund, says Marit Bjørgen to news. FRIENDS: Therese Johaug and Marit Bjørgen have had a close relationship for almost 15 years. Here from the roller skiing race in 2020. Photo: Jil Yngland / NTB – Glad she did it Holmlund worked as a nutritionist on the national team for ten years. The fact that Bjørgen made contact regarding Johaug’s weight did not surprise her. – Marit has always had the ability to care about everyone, so it would have been natural for her to bring this up with me. Marit had an important role as captain, and there was a good feedback culture. It was often Holmlund who was contacted by the athletes if they had something to say or give notice about food, weight and nutrition, but Holmlund would not call Bjørgen’s notice a message of concern. CONTACT: Bjørgen contacted nutritionist Heidi Holmlund. Here from an news interview in 2013. Photo: news – I wouldn’t call it messages of concern when you are so close, but rather a dialogue. There is an open feedback culture in such a team. Therese Johaug has also been informed that Bjørgen sent in a message about her health. In an SMS to news, Johaug writes this: “It is very good to say if you see a change. I’m glad Marit did it”. Supporting Johaug In the book, Johaug also writes about an episode where she and several junior national team runners were encouraged to weigh their food. Marit Bjørgen supports her friend who reacted to this. – I have no sense of weighing the food. It will be completely wrong. As a top athlete, you need to eat a lot, says Bjørgen. It was a lecture by Professor Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen and the follow-up to this Johaug reacted to, even though she thinks the intentions were good. Among other things, weighing food and giving feedback on food intake became a topic. The athletes followed it up afterwards. Sundgot-Borgen has told news that the background for the lecture was a concern from the coach about the nutritional intake in the team. LECTURE: Professor Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen at the Norwegian Sports Academy gave a lecture for Johaug and the junior national team. Photo: Morten Holm / NTB – We were of course concerned with minimizing the risk that several of the girls ended up in such a situation that there was an increased risk of consequences linked to too low energy intake and an increased risk of eating disorders, wrote Sundgot-Borgen in a email to news earlier this week. She added: – In that connection, it was said that it might be appropriate to map the intake to see if it was sufficient in terms of energy and nutrition. It is true that some were followed up in relation to diet and blood status. Sundgot-Borgen pointed out that it is not recommended to instruct athletes to weigh food without it being set in a context where they are followed up closely by professionals.
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