World Cup winner Natalia Nebrazheva received an exciting pre-season message from coach Yuri Borodavko that she must lose weight.
– Ideally, she should weigh 62-63 kilograms to function optimally, but the weight now stands in the way of her ability to take new steps, in Borodavko He added:
The problem is that she has no fat to lose. It is almost a muscle, so it becomes difficult to lose weight without affecting performance. You can’t cut out proteins and just live on carbohydrates. We just have to hope she can burn it off when the competition season starts, he said.
The controversial call for Russia’s top cross-country skater to lose weight came amid the publication of the Dagbladet Project on Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating Behaviour, ‘Sick skin nation’and remembrance of the coach’s comments that characterized Norwegian women’s cross-country skiing in the 1980s, It also emerged from Dagbladet’s extensive investigations.
One of the best: It was Natalia Nebrazheva who in several distance races gave Thérèse Juhaug the biggest fight for victory – and overall she was the most complete cross-country skater, according to the World Cup roster. Photo: NTB Scanpix
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In addition to Borodavko making that call ahead of the current season – with Nebrazheva according to the World Cup roster being the most versatile and complete cross-country skater – Russia’s ski chief Gelana Valbe alluded to the same ahead of the 2020/21 season.
Russian profile cut against Norwegian debate
I don’t see any problems with myself
Now, for the first time, Nebraeva’s lyrics describe how she’s responding to the calls that led her to lose weight.
Of course, such words hurt any girl. I understand how much weight I need to reach my fullest potential. According to the Russian news agency TASS, I do not see any problems with myself and who I am.
Nebrazheva notes that she beat many competitors “who are thinner than her”. After all, the 26-year-old has won the Tour de Ski and the World Cup together this season.
– Of course, you always strive to become better, more beautiful and thinner – regardless of your weight or appearance. There is no limit to perfection. But in general, I don’t think there is anything wrong with me. She says it’s just that everyone has something to work with.
I got help to lose weight
Russian culture
When Dagbladet spoke with Nebrijeva’s colleague and new Russian star Veronika Stepanova on the topic this fall, Stepanova modeled the cultural difference in how the topic of weight is talked about in Russia versus Norway.
– It is important to talk about this topic and not avoid it for fear of offending someone’s feelings. “I want us to have mutual sincerity among everyone involved about weight and nutrition,’ Stepanova told Dagbladet.
As a young athlete, I absolutely prefer my coaches and counselors to be honest with me about health and what it takes to perform better. That’s how I’ve felt since I won my first local competition at the age of 10.
– But I would prefer this discussion, about weight, among other things, to take place between myself and the coach – and without a public discussion in the media, she said.
Extra kilos saved my life
Stepanova added that she personally does not remember meeting a Russian figure skater who she knows has an eating disorder.
– I dare say I know hundreds of young skaters. Dagbladet’s great Russian talent claimed that none of these had an eating disorder diagnosis.
I often feel like unhealthy food, whether it’s sweets or chips. I don’t think we think differently than our non-exercise counterparts, you think.
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