– I’m sorry. That’s what the historic ice dancer Maria Bjørkli answers to questions about how she feels. The 23-year-old has been told that she cannot continue as a top athlete. Her health puts an end to her career. – It was after the EC that I started to feel bad, she explains. Because let’s start there. In the EC. Da Bjørkli wrote sports history as the first Norwegian ice dancer to ever participate in a European championship. Together with dance partner James Koszuta (USA), she represented Norway during the European Championships in Finland in January. Then it went downhill. Operated as a newborn On Saturday evening, she announced the news that she was giving up. She has no choice. – I have had heart problems all my life, so I was aware that I was taking a chance when I bet on sports, she tells news on Sunday morning. OPERATED: Bjørkli had to be operated on when she was three days old. Photo: Privat The ice dancer was born with a heart defect, and she was only three days old when she had her first open heart surgery. At the age of 17, she had to be on the operating table again, and in 2020 she had a pacemaker inserted. It made her much better, but after the EC earlier this year, the decline started. – After the EC, the doctors discovered that there was something wrong with one of the wires, she says. – I was just supposed to go to Oslo and pull out the old wires and get new ones in place, but then they discovered that a wire had grown stuck in the heart valve. The operation was cancelled, and I returned to Stavanger, explains Bjørkli further. Too high a risk After a while, the 23-year-old was allowed to return to Rikshospitalet, where they had put in place a larger team to ensure that the operation went safely and soundly for him. But eventually the doctors pulled the brakes. They concluded that it was too high a risk to carry out the planned operation. – That’s why I have to quit, explains Bjørkli. IN HOSPITAL: Bjørkli’s heart disease has made her Photo: Privat The broken wire remains in the heart valve, and the ice dancer has to give up her top sports venture. – I can continue to train, but not at this level. I can’t be a top athlete. – What has sport meant to you? – It has meant a lot. It has given me a lot. It’s like the only thing I’ve done, she replies. But even if it is the only thing she has done, she had only danced with James Koszuta for one year, before they met the EC requirement. DREAM PARTNERS: Picture from the Challenge Cup in Philadelphia where Maria Bjørkli and her partner came third. Photo: Private – It’s great that we managed to do it, even though we had much bigger goals. We dreamed of the WC and the Olympics, admits the ice dancer. Now she dreams of continuing with a life in sports, but perhaps rather as a coach. – I have to see this as an opportunity to experience new things, says the 23-year-old bravely. – She has shown that it is possible Skøyte president Mona Adolfsen is sorry that Bjørkli has to give up. – This was obviously a very sad message to receive. They have put in so much effort and made enormous progress in a relatively short time, she says. SKATING PRESIDENT: Mona Adolfsen. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix Adolfsen is nevertheless clear that health must always come first, and that even though Bjørkli’s active career is now over, she can be of great use in Norwegian sports. – However, I hope that we can take advantage of the expertise and, not least, the experience that Maria has gained during her years as an ice dancer and that it can contribute to us being able to build up new ice dancers, says the ice skating president. – I am impressed by the effort and willingness Maria has shown to bet on a branch that we in Norway have no tradition of. She has shown that it is possible, adds Adolfsen.
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Maria (23) made Norwegian sports history – now the doctors have asked her to give up
