does not like retirement life:
Karen-Marie Ellefsen made a brutal transition to the new everyday life: – Can not bear to watch sports broadcasts on TV
After living and breathing for the job, it was a brutal transition to the new everyday life as a pensioner in the pandemic era. – I miss the job very much, says a candid Karen-Marie Ellefsen to Here and Now.
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On a lovely summer day by idyllic Sognsvann on the outskirts of Oslomarka, bathers are scattered across the lawn in the sunshine. It’s a hot summer day, but Karen-Marie Ellefsen (70) is still relatively well dressed.
– Jann Post teased me when we were covering athletics and said: “It will only be 25 degrees, so you have to put on your bubble jacket”. I’m a real freezer. It does not take much move until I think it is too cold to sit outside. It’s not getting too hot for me, laughs the legendary sports journalist.
Boring retirement life: – Cooking and cleaning all day
It’s been a few months since we last saw Karen-Marie on screen. After 47 years at NRK, she retired last autumn, because such are the rules in the state channel after the age of 70. She had the last broadcast with the sport on 31 October, and from November a completely new everyday life began.
– Nyter from pensjonisttilværelsen?
– No, I do not. It is clear that there was a particular upheaval due to the pandemic. You can not travel, you can not go to the cafe whenever you want, you can not meet whoever you want, you can not go to shops, exhibitions or theater. You can not do anything. So there has been a lot of Netflix and knitting. I used to eat almost all my meals in the canteen at NRK, because I hate cooking. Now I feel like I cook and clean all day, says Karen-Marie.
Also read: Such was Ellefsen’s incredible career
Photo: Svein Brimi
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For fear of coronary heart disease, the 70-year-old has hardly walked outside the door of the apartment at home at Majorstua in Oslo. Thus, retirement has so far been relatively stagnant.
– When you do not have children and grandchildren and all this, it gets a little lonely. For me, work was a very big part of my social life. Since I live alone, it became important. When you no longer work, it feels very strange. I’m exactly the same as when I was 35 or 50 years old. It’s a beginning and an end to everything, but I feel a little thrown out of society in a way. As if I’d been thrown in the trash. I miss my job very much, she admits.
Brutal sentence in NRK: – Then come the tears
NRK colleagues often ask her for a cup of coffee at Marienlyst, but as a pensioner it is not just-just to visit the TV building. On her last day of work, she worked on “Kveldsnytt”, and by midnight Karen-Marie’s time at NRK was over.
Then the key card stopped working with immediate effect.
– Two minutes past midnight we tried, and then it did not work. It was experienced very brutally. If there had been no one else there, I would not have been locked in the locker room to change into his usual clothes. Then I must have gone out in the autumn cold high-heeled shoes and a thin dress, she laughs.
MISS THE JOB: After 47 years at NRK, Karen-Marie is left with countless good memories. – Preserve me well, I have been privileged. There is no doubt about it, she smiles.
Photo: Svein Brimi
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– I have walked in and out the doors at NRK for 47 years. Now I almost feel like a criminal when I go in there. I have to fill out a form and have a visitor’s tag on my jacket. It is incredibly uncomfortable, and that is why I have not been there so many times, says Karen-Marie who reveals that there will be some tears when she is back on NRK.
– Especially the first times, but most recently also just two days ago. I met some of my colleagues. Then they ask, “How are you?” Then come the tears, the TV legend says frankly.
Warholm pays tribute to the family: – Mom gives me security
PIONER: In 1979, Karen-Marie became the first woman to be permanently employed in NRK-sporten. She has paved the way for female sports journalists, and today is a great role model for many.
Photo: NRK
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Royal tribute
In August last year, Karen-Marie was awarded the King’s Medal of Merit as a thank you for paving the way for female sports journalists. Since she became the first permanently employed woman in NRK sports in 1979, she has conveyed unforgettable sports moments to the Norwegian people – and the King wanted to show that we as a nation value highly.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg and NRK chief Thor Gjermund Eriksen surprised her with the medal when she was in the middle of recording an Olympic program.
– How do you look back on your years in NRK now that you have gotten it a little at a distance?
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– I have been allowed to work with what I absolutely most wanted to work with – which I dreamed of ever since I was nine years old. I have had many nice experiences. Preserve me well, I have been privileged. There is no doubt about it. I do not want to go as far as Arne Scheie who says that he is lucky to get paid for his hobby. I have worked to get some money too, but it is clear that it has been a great time.
FRYSEPINN: – A perfect summer day is sun and lots, lots of heat. I like myself best in the shade, but it must be warm and sunny around me, Karen-Marie smiles.
Photo: Svein Brimi
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Can’t stand watching sports broadcasts on TV
– What is it like to follow the championships at home from the living room?
– I can not bear to watch sports broadcasts on TV. I feel it especially now in the summer where it is athletics season, because that is what I miss the most. It’s actually a little hard. I watched the New Year’s jump race and all the jump races in the WC, but that’s it. At least I can not bear to see athletics. I’m trying to displace it. Trying to think of other things, she admits.
When Karen-Marie really needs to find peace, she travels to the childhood home in Begnadalen in Valdres. After her parents passed away, she and her sister have preserved the house as a holiday resort – and this summer she will spend a lot of time there.
CLOSE RELATIONSHIP: Karen-Marie and her sister Arna Oddveig have taken care of the family farm in Begnadalen and will holiday together there this summer.
Photo: Private
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– We try to be there as much as possible in the summer. There was never a question that we should not take care of the house. The plot there is very nice. Then I like to sit there with the knitting, and there is nothing wrong with a good glass of white wine either, she smiles.
– How were your childhood summers at home in Begnadalen?
– I remember them as very nice. We picked a lot of wild strawberries, which grew right outside the property. We touched the berries and invited the neighbors for coffee, waffles and freshly stirred jam in our outdoor dollhouse. We played a lot of badminton. Two and two to see how long we could keep the ball in the air before it fell to the ground. I think the record I was involved in was over 1000 strokes, she says.
– In the middle of the summer we swam mostly in the river – no matter how cold it was. I can promise you that I do not now. It is doubtful if it will be hot enough water for me to wet anything more than my legs. Now I have to have over 20 degrees in the water if I am to be able to swim, Karen-Marie says with a smile.
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