– Absolutely damn – VG

Less than 20 minutes ago

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– Absolutely damn, simply, says Østberg about the conversation with the national team doctor just after Christmas Eve last year, which meant that she was again refused to go to competitions for Norway.

The 31-year-old has turned the clock back almost six months in a conversation with VG at Holmenkollen restaurant in Oslo.

This is actually the first time she has spoken to the media since before Christmas. On Wednesday, Østberg arranged a press conference on her own where she announced that her career as a skier will continue.

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Calling wrecking sad and strange

The desire and motivation is still there.

But the investment is made privately and alone.

After 14 years on the national team, she was wrecked for the upcoming World Cup season. She calls the decision from the ski management understandable, however both strange and sad that she could not not be offered a place on a team she has been a part of for 14 years.

The reason was that she has skied very few skis since 2019, because she has not met the association’s requirements for the health certificate. In other words, there have been many disappointing messages in the last three and a half years.

– The biggest downturn

But last winter, Østberg really thought she had turned the situation around.

She was given the go-ahead to go cross-country skiing just before the start of the season and a tailor-made competition plan by the coaches. Østberg got to go to the competitions that would get her both ready and qualified for the big goal: the Olympics in Beijing in February.

It did not start quite so well, but the development was enormous in just a few weeks. Østberg finished in eighth place, just under half a minute behind Therese Johaug during a World Cup race in mid-December.

Østberg had to proudly admit to VG at the time that the increase in form had gone far faster than she thought.

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– Absolutely horrible

But just a few weeks later, on Christmas Day 2 last year, the dream was shattered.

– It has been the biggest sporting downturn and time for me, says Østberg today.

She had such great faith that things had settled down, but before the most important period in last year’s season, she once again failed to meet the requirements of the health certificate.

– I understood that and the conditions were fair, but still it was absolutely horrible. Because you feel that everything you have worked for so long and have used as motivation was not worth anything. I did not get anything back.

Thus, both the Tour de Ski, the Olympics and the rest of the season went without her.

– It was brutal, she describes.

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Gets with former Johaug coach

She is proud that she managed to enjoy watching her teammates compete the rest of the winter and at the same time enjoy themselves alone on ski trips in the Oslo countryside.

Nevertheless, the season also ended in a tough way and now she is without a national team place.

When she now continues her solo efforts into a season where the World Cup in Planica awaits in February, she does so with follow-up from former Johaug coach, Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass.

The Gjøvik lady has taken calls to several people in the ski community to get tips on how to finance and implement a scheme, but does not seem particularly worried about it yet.

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– Challenge to exercise properly and eat enough

However, one thing she must take care of now is good health. It is the lack of balance between training and nutrition that has ensured that Østberg has not met the requirements in the health certificate of the Norwegian Ski Association and thus been refused to participate in gatherings and refusal to start in competition for long periods.

She also has two long injury breaks due to fatigue fractures, which are linked to her health situation in recent years.

– I have been very open about the fact that it has been and is a challenge for me to get the right exercise and eat enough. Exactly why I did not make it, I wish I knew too. It should have been possible to achieve when I have such a great desire to perform skiing, says Østberg now.

– It is such a simple and brutal message, which I must also dare and be able to hear. Then I have problems and challenges with it, which I have to work with every day.

A key is about continuing the collaboration with the health team at the Olympic summit if she is to go cross-country skiing in November.

– I am prepared for the fact that I have to make changes. Exactly what it is, I have no answer right now. But I know that changes are needed and that it will be difficult for me, both to exercise less and differently – and at the same time eat more and differently.

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