Daughter Ine Wigernæs confirmed to NTB on Sunday that Ingrid Wigernæs passed away on Saturday. She lived to be 95 years old and died with her family around her. Familia agrees with the death being mentioned. She was not the first woman to compete in cross-country skiing for Norway, but she is perhaps the one who has seen the most traces in Norwegian women’s cross-country skiing. She referred to her team in the 60s as “jentut’n”. It means the girls in her dialect, and became a catchphrase that is still linked to the pioneers in cross-country skiing for women, at a time when the girls had to fight against prejudices in both the press and the federations in order to be allowed to go at all. It was in this “setting” that Ingrid Wigernæs emerged as one of the greatest in Norwegian skiing history. At home in Hemsedal, where she was born in 1928 and bore the name Ingrid Løken, she went skiing like other children and young people out in the village. – When I was growing up, skiing was a game and a means of transport. We were a lot of kids in the village, and flew out into the snow on our skis as soon as we had done our homework, Wigernæs said (to freelance journalist Elizabeth Lingjærde). But she was no more than 16 when she moved from the village to Oslo shortly after the war ended. – To learn better how to play the accordion, as she explained it. There he got an office job. She thrives on it, but misses the active life. There was too little of that, even though she went to the fields both summer and winter. Bondeheimen and shoes number 47 THE FIRST RACE: Ingrid Wigernæs in fine drive in the Monolittrennet in Frognerparken on New Year’s Day in 1954, her first competitive race and in borrowed skis and shoes Photo: Aktuell / NTB The turning point came at Bondeheimen, a meeting point for immigrant youth in the capital. She often went there to eat, and came into contact with BUL and organized sports. There she started to compete, both in cross-country skiing and orienteering. We traveled to the club cabin in Nordmarka as often as we could, she has told idrettsveteraner.com. It was in that environment that she met Lars Tjærum, also from Hallingdal. – He persuaded me to start in the Monolittrennet in Frognerparken in 1954. I was allowed to borrow equipment from Lars – skis that measured 215 centimeters, and shoes number 47, Wigernæs has told. It was in the sports environment that she met Leif Wigernæs. That led her to the Romerikslaget, and on the evening of June 1955 there was a wedding. Ingrid took the surname by which she became known. “Slimy stripes in strategic places” Cross-country skiing for women was not only in the 50s. In the Olympics in Oslo it was on the program, but not at all with Norwegian goodwill. On the contrary. The NM first took place in 1954. – Cross-country skiing was not feminine enough, the newspapers stated, and the mentions of the women who defied the opposition and went, were almost ridiculed. “They had slimy, sweaty streaks in strategic places. The female spectators had to feel humiliated on behalf of their gender”, a newspaper describes one of the first cross-country races in which women were allowed to participate. UGLY? This is not feminine, thought both the press and the federation in the 50s. Photo: Ntb / NTB The doctors also warned the women against engaging in such strenuous physical activity. It could be harmful. It was these prejudices that Ingrid Wigernæs had to fight against, and managed to crush. She participated in the 10 km in the Olympics in Cortina in 1956, but was only number 27. To the Olympics in Squaw Valley in California, Norway could not afford to send women. In Innsbruck in 1964 it went a little better, with 12th and 15th place in 10 and 5 km, but far from the podium. The Soviet Russians dominated, together with the Swedes and Finns, who had come much further in women’s cross-country skiing. Only female national team coach But women’s cross-country skiing had received both a growing acceptance and a good environment here at home. Not least because of Wigernæs’ work in the Romerikslaget and other ski environments in the country. She was instrumental in the Skiting in 1964, against the advice of the board, introducing a women’s relay as NM training. When it came to the WC in Oslo in 1966, the 38-year-old had two relay golds and five individual NM golds behind him. But it was more important that the influx of young girls to the ski slopes was increasing. It gave optimism. Ingrid Wigernæs was given responsibility as national team coach on a part-time basis in 1965 – to date the only woman to have been national team coach in cross-country skiing. – I think “our girls” should have a chance to fight for a medal in the relay, she said before the WC open. It was a rather broad statement, but it would appear that Wigernæs knew what she was talking about. Breakthrough with WC silver JENTUT’N: The trio that broke through with WC silver in 1966: Inger Aufles, Berit Mørdre and Ingrid Wigernæs Photo: Erik Thorberg / NTB The breakthrough for Norwegian women’s cross-country skiing came on the final day in Holmenkollen. Neither TV nor radio broadcast 3 x 5 kilometers directly, because the church service trumped the sport this Sunday morning. But what TV could show in footage a little later in the day was incredible. Ingrid Wigernæs walked the first stage. – I was late for a while, but I managed to catch up. At Gratishaugen, the legs were like two knitting needles. But then I said “God, now you have to help me to the finish line”. And he certainly did, Wigernæs said of his stage. Inger Aufles on the second stage also kept up well, and was able to send Berit Mørdre ahead of her Nordic competitors. The rush was dramatic. Sweden’s Toini Gustafsson passed a few hundred meters before the goal and got an apparently safe gap. Wigernæs stood there and shouted. – Make sure you’re strong in the arms, Berit, beamed the Hemsedal dialect across the stadium. And Berit Mørdre used his great strength to stake Norway to a very surprising World Cup silver. – You’re not giving up after this performance, are you? asked news’s Øivind Johnsen. – Well, now I give up. Now we have made a connection between the old and the new. I’m happy to have stayed until the very end, replied the 38-year-old veteran. news’s interview with “jentut’n”: LET UP: – Now I give up. Now it’s over, said Ingrid Wigernæs right after the silver relay in Holmenkollen Crushing superb Olympic gold Wigernæs kept her word and gave up after the Oslo WC. But she was still national team coach during the Olympics in Grenoble in the French Alps two years later, and her teammates from the silver team were better than ever. At the 10 kilometer mark, they couldn’t do anything with Toini Gustafsson. But Berit Mørdre and Inger Aufles took silver and bronze, keeping the Russians completely off the podium. This bodes well for the relay. And expectations were more than met. The 3×5 kilometer relay in Autrans outside the Olympic city of Grenoble was to become the great highlight of Norwegian women’s cross-country skiing, a highlight that would take many years to surpass. Babben Enger Damon had replaced Ingrid Wigernæs since the silver team in Kollen, and was the third woman on the team. Aufles started, Damon went on the second stage and Mørdre was anchorwoman. Aufles left the competition early, and Norway was clearly the best all the way. Sweden was beaten by 21 seconds, and the feared team from the Soviet Union was shown to bronze place, beaten by “jentut’n” by 43 seconds. It naturally triggered enormous national joy. “Best girls in the world” read the telegram from Prime Minister Per Borten. National team coach Ingrid Wigernæs could celebrate without restraint. – I don’t think the boys were as happy about the relay gold as the girls, but it probably has to do with the fact that they are more used to winning gold, said Ingrid Wigernæs. The men had won a superb relay gold the day before. – Burning my candle at both ends Wigernæ’s team made one more season, but in 1969 she gave up after four strenuous years in the job. – I felt as if I had burned my candle at both ends, she said. In retrospect, she criticized the Norwegian Skiing Association for a lack of investment in women. – In 1966 we were lucky with the lubrication. In 1968 we were lucky because there was a generational change among the Russians and partly also among the Swedes. There was no understanding of responsible holding. Cross-country skiing was for the boys, the girls had to fend for themselves, Wigernæs said in an interview with Aftenposten in 1985. It would be a long time before Norwegian cross-country girls marked themselves at the top of the world again. Not until 1982, the next time the World Ski Championships were held in Oslo. Only in the run-up to that championship were the girls invested in to almost the same extent as the boys. Record and book SONG: Ingrid Wigernæs, like several of the other cross-country skiers in the 60s, released a record. Here she performs “Jentut’n våre” from a ski show in the opera In the 60s it was not unusual for the leading skiers to sing into records. Ingrid Wigernæs did it too. The title? Of course “Jentut’n våre”, with an ever-so-small kick to those who didn’t believe in or support the cross-country women. In 1967 she also published the book “Mot mål med jentut’n”. Ingrid Wigernæs has received her statue. It was created by visual artist Merete Sejersted Bødtker and placed in the home village of Hemsedal. The initiative came from polar explorer Liv Arnesen in the Ladies’ Ski Club network – a club that was founded in 1931 and revived in 2003, with a vision “to promote the joy of skiing and hiking in a network for women, to support women who blaze new trails and to view women’s skiing history”, which it is stated in the introductory paragraph. That paragraph could not fit anyone better than the pioneer Ingrid Wigernæs. She who was behind the breakthrough for women’s cross-country skiing.
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Ingrid Wigernæs is dead – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
