The declining results behind Therese Johaug in recent years became obvious last winter. Johaug sees several reasons for the failure of women. It appears in the book “The whole story”, which is published this week. – The results do not lie. We have to be honest about that, says Johaug to news. She met news in Holmenkollen ahead of the book release on Friday. There are several things she reacted to in the last four years on the national team: That training plans had become much kinder at meetings with new coaches. That she was often the only one to run three-hour sessions. Before, she had been used to everyone being out for three hours in the morning session. Now she likes to start before the others or finish later. That younger athletes were almost warned against training like her. She believes that more people could benefit from stretching the elastic in individual sessions. That no more than the junior Helene Marie Fossesholm tried to challenge her in training. Therese Johaug alone at a training session during a high altitude meeting in Italy. It became common for her in recent years. Photo: Torstein Bøe / NTB – It is clear that when the amount of training decreases year by year and you somehow do not challenge yourself to reach new heights, it gives an answer in the results in the end. And I believe that results don’t lie, says Johaug to news. She was also part of the evaluation committee that went into depth on the Norwegian women’s problem in cross-country skiing this year. The report was presented recently. It was critical of the development. Shorter sessions When Johaug returned to the national team in 2018, after the 18-month-long doping ban, she noticed, for example, that what had been three-hour long sessions at altitude became two-hour long sessions. A second session could also be severely cut compared to earlier. – Were you surprised that the level was worse than you thought? – It was perhaps more the attitudes. But there were new girls who came in and they couldn’t stay on the same training doses that I was on. The contrast for me was much greater because I had thinned out the training, says Johaug who had been up to over 1,300 hours of training over the course of a year. Therese Johaug met news in Holmenkollen ahead of the book release. Photo: Nils Christian Mangelrød/news In the Olympics last winter, the result was a serious setback for Norwegian women’s cross-country skiing, apart from Johaug’s three golds. But the results had weakened over time. Johaug expresses in the book that her feeling was a weakened training culture when she returned to the national team. – It is a responsibility that the athletes themselves must take. How good they want to be and how big a risk they want to take. Then there is a responsibility for coaches and the management of the Skiing Association. So I don’t think we should blame anyone here. In a way, it is the total that has failed. And that is what they have to do something about, says Johaug. She sees that several athletes, not least Marit Bjørgen, had left the team and that the raw attitude was no longer the same. There were also new coaches. Agree with Johaug Ole Morten Iversen was national team coach for the previous four years. He points out that many athletes were nowhere near being able to follow Johaug in training when she returned from the ban. Therefore, they thought that a different training day was best for the other runners, in the first year. – I very much agree with what Therese says. I don’t see that as much criticism. I think we have tried to get the athletes to challenge more. But in retrospect, we should have been a little tougher on that, says Iversen. – Is it both a coach’s responsibility and an athlete’s responsibility? – As a coach, it is your task to challenge. It is the athletes’ job to do that, says Iversen. Iversen says that they worked deliberately to get the team to become more offensive, after his first year as national team coach. At the same time, the team lost several of the established runners. It was only when the junior Helene Marie Fossesholm joined the team that a new runner really tried to hang on to Johaug. Former national team coach Ole Morten Iversen same with Johaug on Hafjell in 2020. Photo: Geir Olsen / Geir Olsen Fossesholm has struggled after her first season on the national team. Iversen believes it was a useful experience for Fossesholm to challenge Johaug. – Did you say anything to the athletes and coaches, Johaug? – No, I didn’t really do that. I didn’t feel like I should interfere with their training. I have great respect for the fact that some people dare to train 1000 hours and others only train 700 hours and some train 1300 hours. But in the end, I think that if you want to be successful weekend after weekend in the long term, you have to have a certain amount of training in your body, says Johaug. Cross-country manager Espen Bjervig believes that the main lines of the training work for the national team did not change while Johaug was banned. – Therese is a unique athlete, and she used the time she was banned very well in terms of training, and came back stronger than she was before the ban. This may perhaps be the reason for feeling that there had been a downward curve, writes Bjervig to news. news has been in contact with national team runners Ragnhild Haga and Anne Kjersti Kalvå, who do not wish to comment on the matter at this time. Different culture Johaug is clear that the social environment has perhaps never been better on the women’s team than in recent years. But Johaug saw a different raw culture in the team she had been part of with runners such as Marit Bjørgen, Vibeke Skofterud and Kristin Størmer Steira. Former national team coach Egil Kristiansen says that the training culture in the national team he coached until 2016 was completely unique, for better or for worse. He was the coach of a golden generation of runners. Therese Johaug and Marit Bjørgen at the national team meeting in autumn 2011. It is told about a raw training culture in the national team in those years. Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB – It wasn’t about the offensiveness. There was more than enough training. I remember a meeting in the early summer of 2013 where we discussed that it was now time to put our feet on the ground and put the brakes on, says Kristiansen. Kristiansen points out that this is a bit about what types you have on the team. – They were extremely offensive, trained a lot and endured a lot. A fine and good training culture was created. So it was a homogeneous group. There were many who were at a very good international level, says Kristiansen, who is today the men’s national biathlon team coach. Disappointed in the Olympics It was also an experience in the Olympics last winter that made Johaug wonder about the team spirit in the squad. In the book, Johaug writes that she was disappointed that media officer Gro Eide was the only one from the Norwegian team who joined her at the award ceremony after her first Olympic gold in China. – I think it was very strange that there were not more people at the medal ceremony. It should be said that the other athletes had not been offered to participate. So at 10 km there were people, but I was disappointed that the coaches weren’t there, says Johaug. In the book, she expresses concern that a gold apparently meant so little to the cross-country team. She was used to celebrating each other’s triumphs and was inspired by it. Therese Johaug cheered for her first Olympic gold, but was disappointed that only one in the Norwegian squad appeared at the medal ceremony. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB – Did you feel the team spirit was bad? – I may not have felt that the team spirit was bad, but in a way it is to be present and treat others to success. I know that they wanted me to succeed, but to be present somehow, says Johaug. She feels it was special to see that the combined national team was there with athletes and support equipment and that a large group from the Russian team was also there cheering on their athletes. – I am stunned when Norway as a nation only has one person who stood at the front. It was a special experience, says Johaug. Ole Morten Iversen understands Johaug. – In a normal world, the whole team should have been there. It was a special situation, says Iversen, thinking of the strict corona restrictions in China. – I don’t remember exactly why we didn’t join. But hardly anyone was allowed to go outside the camp. It wasn’t just about booking a bus. In a normal world, we should have been there, he says. He understands Johaug when she took it in such a way that she did not think it meant little to the team. – But the other girls on the team know how to value this. Although it was difficult to show it in that setting in China. We also don’t have a good feeling when we’re not there, says Iversen.
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Therese Johaug settles with the women’s level – surprised by the team’s attitudes – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
