Marit Björgen: – Concerned: – Society has changed

114 individual World Cup victories, 18 World Cup golds, and eight Olympic golds.

No cross-country runner has won more than Marit Björgen.

No other female Winter Olympian has won more than Marit Björgen.

The 42-year-old Rognes is a phenomenon in sports.

But why exactly was it the best?

The answer to this question is of course complex.

This article discusses what the pirate Björgen shaped and built in his childhood and upbringing.

Bjørgen has become the absolute best in very different ways from what many believe is the standard for ambitious children and youth.

Björgen: – We have less active children

She herself is somewhat concerned about the development of society and how it affects today’s children.

– Society has changed. Free play, unstructured training, doesn’t exist as much anymore. We get less active kids. Perhaps more specialization, kids can play soccer in structured training seven days a week. It may become a bit monotonous. I’m for variety and prefers unstructured training on the loop or on the ski slopes, says Marit Björgen to Dagbladet.

She and partner Fred Burr Lundberg have two sons, Marius and Ola.

– One can quickly think that it is comfortable for them to sit with an iPad, and that parents can relax. Of course my children will be allowed to choose for themselves, but I will try to get the children outside and do activities.

What are the activities then?

For example, they can ride a bike while jogging in the field, or play an obstacle course during strength training. Or they can take me to the trampoline, which they like, she says and laughs.

Bjørgen is a big fan of the diverse sports background and unstructured gameplay.

She is currently working with the book The Marit Method, which she is currently publishing with guru Strom Sully.

– It seems that Marit’s method is somewhat different from that of Geert?

The question makes Björgen laugh. She doesn’t answer it directly, but rather focuses on what it stands for.

This is how the Björgen phenomenon arose

To understand this, we must take an insight into the upbringing of the girl who would become the best cross-country runner ever and the most successful Winter Olympian.

Grow me up. It was an activity that I didn’t think was an exercise. And we’ve been given the farm-to-house mindset, Bjorgen Dagbladet tells us.

As a little girl, Marit Björgen was very active with older brother Anders and little sister Carrie.

The only time she spent in front of a children’s TV screen was at six o’clock, in stark contrast to what her children face in today’s society.

In addition to helping out on the farm, in the barn and at the silo in the summer, Björgen and her one-year-old older brother Anders played a lot. They built a cabin in the woods and continued the game throughout the evening.

In the fall there were long treks in the mountains to gather sheep. The family cabin was 16 kilometers from the farm, and they varied between riding a motorbike and skiing to get there, Björgen describes in his new book.

– shape me

Marit Bjørgen’s farm is located high in a valley in Rognes. She was taken by car to school, but in connection with other events she had to ride a bike back and forth. It meant riding a bike 4.5 kilometers uphill on the way home.

We might have been more creative and active outdoors, without social media, and less organized sports. As in society now, with all the access to social media and technology, perhaps parents need to be more creative and active with their children. “I think my childhood shaped me to become who I am and to succeed in sports,” Bjorgen Dagbladet told Björgen Dagbladet.

Björgen’s first encounter with organized sports was when she began playing soccer and handball when she was seven years old. I started skating later.

I said no to NTG

In her youth, Bjørgen refused to start at Norges Toppidrettsgymnas (NTG) and is happy about it, as she fears it will mean a one-sided focus on cross-country skiing. Instead, she stayed home and went to Støren High School.

It wasn’t until the age of 18 that the Cross Country Queen quit handball. Thus Björgen is proof that early specialization is not necessary in order to become the best.

As a cross-country runner who grew up, Björgen faced the match against the boys and was strengthened as a result. Training methods were alternative, such as steaming running with intervals of running with the knee raised in the water. Or paddling upstream in the river. Or play bandy with roller skates on your feet. Or the belt drills where Björgen and his co-workers do. Pull a teammate to increase pressure.

Most importantly, it was fun. She herself believes that creativity contributed to well-being, good mood and increased motivation, as well as a versatile training base.

I’ve seen a lot of people destroy themselves

At the age of 18, she was selected for the junior national team. With 350-450 hours of training per year between the ages of 16 and 19, there were many who logged more hours into the training book, but Björgen notes that she has more versatile activities outside of training than most.

The 42-year-old from Rogen believes that her versatile background is an important reason she has not had a single injury during her entire career.

I have seen many athletes destroy themselves by increasing the amount of training too quickly. It often goes well for a season, maybe two, before they get injured, sick or overtrained. It seems as if they think they have less time and stress about training too often and specifically, Björgen describes in his new book.

– I am glad that I was not affected by those who trained more than me. I built myself patiently to train and perform a little better, until I hit a peak level. The years I’ve performed have been better from the age of 30 to 35.

Dad’s muscles

The father of Marit Björgen, Ola and Kristen already became parents when they were 17 years old for Anders. The following year, Marit was born. Six years later, Carrie arrived. All strong above average.

– All three of us are muscular siblings. We probably get it mostly from Dad’s side. We have good genes and prerequisites for building muscle strength. You see, we are equal in this area in the family, as Bjorgen previously told Dagbladet.

– My father is very strong, runs a farm and does fishing. I have good genes from my parents. They are the ones to thank, as well as hard working. Carrie and Anders could have been very good at sports if they had invested in it and put in the effort, Rogen Girl believes

closing the door

Older brother Anders competed until he was 16-17 years old and trained a lot with Marit. However, little sister Carrie was the greatest talent, According to the best cross-country skater in the world.

– But why was Marit and not Carrie the best of them?

– Carrie had more talent than me, but it’s about getting the right motivation and motivation. Carrie had slightly different interests and got the kissing mistake when he was 15 years old. She got very sick and did not have many of her closest friends who went skiing. Coincidences like this can make a difference, as Marit Björgen explains to Dagbladet.

Young parents

But even though the all-time winner of the Winter Olympics thinks she didn’t have the talent for cross-country like her younger sister, the talent was good enough to become the absolute best after training the best in the world for a number of years.

In this regard, patience and continuity in training work over many years has been the most important key, With a good and varied diet with plenty of nutrition.

However, the interest in cross-country skiing was not always so great in the Bjørgen family. Her parents never competed in figure skating, but they were always energetic and well trained.

– I had to stop eating apples

– Mom played other sports, but did not compete. Dad is strong, runs a farm and hunts. They have become young parents. In addition, they had a farm, so they did not have much time to invest in sports, as the ski queen explains.

For many years, she was described as the mother of the national team and given a lot of responsibility early on, at home too. When the parents were away, she and her older brother Anders ran the farm for the periods of time they were 12 to 13 years old.

You learn from that and become independent. You grow a lot in responsibility. I was never a spoiled girl. Björgen says: ‘I made a home run and always helped.