Olympic champion Klebo retires from Norway’s cross-country skiing team

Five-time Olympic champion in cross-country skiing Johannes Klebo refused to train with the Norwegian national team and will run in the new season on a self-financed basis. The accumulated negativity worked for the decision: the financial crisis that the national team is experiencing, and the problems with the Norwegian Ski Association that the genius has experienced in recent years, and the leader’s thoughts about teammates.

Johannes Klebo has decided to prepare for the new season outside the Norwegian national team. Not outrageous at all, but a well-founded and businesslike approach. His personal trainer is his grandfather, his manager is his father. So the dad of the five-time Olympic champion has already said: they wanted to stay in the national team until 2025, but they chose a different path. And going their own way is nothing new for them: “we stood firm before and during last season, so hopefully we’ve learned something.”

Johannes Klebo knows how to put pressure on the federation. The manager does not say in vain: we learned. Two seasons before the Beijing 2022 Olympics, the world skiing star entered into a debate with Norway’s parent ski organization over the placement of logos for personal sponsors, and not just those shared by the national team. Won. Then his contract with the association in the Olympic season hung in the air for a long time. Klebo did not want to stand in the general ranks, he wanted to skip some training camps and train in the mountains out of personal necessity, and even have a personal serviceman. Won.

Today, he did not wait for victory on all counts and abandoned centralized training. In the federation of Norway, there are problems with funding, hence the mountain camps, which Johannes considers mandatory, have hung up, there is even a reduction in the athletes included in the team. If earlier the team consisted of 24 skiers (13 places for men and 11 women), now it was decided to reduce the total number to 20 (10 athletes each). Beijing silver medalist in the relay, four-time world champion Emile Iversen was among the first to be called out. The past season was not productive for him, in the overall standings of the World Cup he was in 37th place.

(The composition of the Norwegian national team for the next season was announced on April 24. Iversen is really not there. But there are: Amundsen, Valnes, Golberg, Kruger, Nortug (Even), Nyenget, Röte, Skar, Taugbel, Tonset. For women – Lotta Weng, Tiril Weng , Heidi Weng, Calvo, Muret, Myurvold, Ostberg, Skones, Stencet, Helene Fossesholm.)

Whether Iversen or another colleague was kept in mind by Johannes Klebo, but said that his absence from the national team could help someone. “Last season, I also relied on my own strength for the most part, now this will manifest itself in everything,” the NRK skier quotes.

Sporting director of the Norwegian cross-country skiing team Espen Bjervig has already spoken to reporters about the national team’s cost cuts, saying Norwegians will now get “less for our money than before” in order to be cost-effective. For example, the number of doctors and physiotherapists has been cut, marketing activities and the duration of training camps have been reduced, and the athletes of the national team must fly together to reduce costs … True, Bjerwig promised: skis, ointments and everything that is required for equipment are not subject to cuts. Although earlier he also said that no one would touch the composition of the national team.

By the way, suddenly these days the Olympic medalist and four-time world champion Hans Christer Holund announced his retirement. At this year’s World Championships, the skier won a gold medal in the relay and a bronze in the 15 km freestyle.

Two-time Olympic champion Martin Sundby has already told reporters that he is “damn surprised.” Like, he just drank beer with Hans and talked about the future and the World Cup, in which Holunn seemed to be going to participate. Sundby called his colleague a “standard in the national team” and an outstanding skier. Holund himself wrote on social media that he made a difficult choice, “but with two young children and many projects, it seems right to leave this to other hungry athletes who can still do the work needed to compete for medals.”

And Johannes Klebo, explaining his turn to full independence, said simply but elegantly – it would be wrong to receive support for high-altitude training, while teammates would lose places due to cost cuts. He also “touchingly” took care of other colleagues, saying that he knew that some consider his position in the team to be privileged and not deserved, but “now that I’m not in the team, they don’t need to think about it.”

In a press release, the scrupulous Klebo emphasized that after his departure from the national team, it will be possible to reduce the costs of the ski association and spend money on other athletes instead. “I have a few teammates who I think were treated badly during the qualifying rounds.”

The five-time Olympic champion, abandoning centralized training, forced the Norwegian ski association to think about changing their own rules. Today, skiers who are not part of the Norwegian national team are not allowed to compete in the World Championships and the World Cup in cross-country skiing. And the next championship should be held in Trondheim. Klebo is a nine-time world champion and four-time World Cup winner. The issue of the controversial rule is already on the agenda of the ski council meeting.