The detail that may have saved Tande’s life – VG

Less than 1 hour ago

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– I do not want to say that I am afraid, but I have enormous respect. You are more nervous before the season’s first jump in ski flying than you are in any other jump you do in one year, Tande describes ahead of Thursday’s two training jumps and a possible World Cup qualifier in Vikersund.

After four days in an artificial coma in Ljubljana, the jumper quickly searched for his own fall on his mobile phone while lying in bed at the hospital. He remembers absolutely nothing from Planica, but has seen the video of the fall more than 100 times.

– I pulled my arms close to my body. Many people start waving their arms when they lose control. I could have suffered major damage to internal organs if my arms had been pressed into my body. His left arm had quickly been broken, he says to VG before the World Cup at home.

– It may have saved my life, he says.

In the middle between a tearful victory in Holmenkollen on Sunday and this year’s big jumping event in Norway in the next few days. Then the jumping season ends with two new weekends of ski flying. The last in Planica.

– I do not think too much about it now. I travel there with jumping equipment and see what happens, says Tande – with four World Cup titles from jumping’s Formula 1 practice.

It is only 50 weeks since he got the air pressure on his left ski and was sent like a rag doll down the monster hill in Slovenia.

– There were not very many mistakes I should have made before I could have deleted, he says. Tande thanked many years of gymnastics and “space orientation” in the air for the body automatically doing probably the most correct thing in the disaster situation.

He struggles to understand that it did not get worse.

– I do not understand that I did not break my neck. I’m a flexible type obviously, he says with a smile.

The injuries were later limited to four small brain haemorrhages, a punctured lung and two fractures in the collarbone. But the heart stopped in Planica. After somewhere between three and five minutes, the defibrillator started running again, pumping the pump in the chest.

– It’s strange to think about. I saw no guy with a long beard and a shepherd’s staff and have become even more certain that there is nothing more than earthly life, he says with a big laugh. The gallows humor is loose in the interview with VG at the Olympic summit in Oslo.

– It is a much bigger trauma for teammates, coaches, support staff and family than it has been for me. It is certainly not a good thing to hear how they have experienced what happened, he believes. Clas Brede Bråthen signs it.

– There are some things that almost only have to be allowed to speak for themselves. For I have no apt words or descriptions for it. It’s some of the strongest I’ve ever experienced. It’s about the whole story, says the national team manager.

– Daniel is an extremely special athlete and ski jumper who gets it here. This is on a par with what Aksel Lund Svindal achieved when he returned from his ugly fall, Bråthen believes.

Svindal was about to lose his life after a fall in training in the USA in 2007. 374 days later he returned and won in Beaver Creek. 347 days after the fall of Planica, Daniel-André Tande won his first World Cup race. The tears came to both him and Bråthen.

– It is very natural for me that there will be some tears. I have never put any filter on myself. I have never tried to play a character, but have been myself and give as much as possible. I think that also makes people think it’s extra fun to follow ski jumping that they get to know the people, says Daniel-André Tande.

In 2018, he became double world champion in ski flying just a few months after his brother Håkon took his own life. He has since been open about the family tragedy.

– For me, it is important to be open and talk about things. It is a prerequisite for getting help. Especially around the situation with Håkon is a taboo topic. I’m very into talking about such things. It has become part of my way of being, he says and talks about how his little brother is still with him in every single jump in the NRK series “The perfect case”.

Tande says that he feels the nerves before the meeting with Vikersund who has the world record (Stefan Kraft – 253.5 meters).

– I do not feel fear yet, but I must admit that I wake up with a little more “tention” in the body for every day now. But I know that if I make jumps like in Kollen, then there is no problem at all, he says and continues.

– The victory in Holmenkollen means absolutely something. I pushed the boundaries a bit there and it responded so well.

– Are you afraid of making the same mistake as in Planica?

– In the.

– Are you thinking about World Cup gold?

– I have no ambitions to win. The only one I have is to drop the boom in the first training jump. Then we take it from there.

– But you are four times world champion in ski flying?

– Of course it would have been cool to be part of both the individual and especially the team competition. No one has won four straight team golds in the World Skiing Championships.

– Do you think lengths before Vikersund?

– Of course. I want to jump as far as possible. Every man dreams of jumping over 250 meters, says Tande with 243.5 meters from Planica and 243 from Vikersund as best records.

– Do you dream of setting a world record?

– Of course. I’ve been doing that for years.

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