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The Olympian’s admission of infidelity came at the wrong time in the wrong place. By framing it as a romantic gesture, Laegreid embodies everything wrong with patriarchal, ego-driven ideas of love.
Sturla Holm Laegreid’s speech was not the grand romantic gesture he thought it was. Before the 20km individual biathlon took place at the Winter Olympics in Italy last week, you’d probably never heard of Laegreid. He’s a successful Norwegian athlete, granted, but outside of devout winter sports fan groups he had a pretty low profile.
That all changed when he won the bronze medal. But it wasn’t Laegreid’s impressive performance that stirred a media storm. At the post-race press junket he tearfully admitted – live on television – to cheating on his long-term girlfriend.
It had been ‘the worst week of [his] life’, Laegried told reporters. The bronze medal, it turned out, was no salve for the suffering he’d endured after telling his girlfriend about an affair three months prior.
‘There’s someone I wanted to share [this win] with who might not be watching,’ the biathlete said, in a scene pulled tactlessly from the midway point of a Richard Curtis movie. ‘Six months ago, I met the love of my life – the most beautiful and kindest person in the world. Three months ago I made the biggest mistake and cheated on her.’ Get the tiny violins out.
But wait, Laegreid had more heart-shatteringly romantic words to bestow. ‘I had the gold medal in life,’ (this metaphor was particularly low hanging fruit, but I’ll let it slide; the man was clearly going through it) ‘and I am sure there are many people who will see things differently, but I only have eyes for her,’ he continued in the speech that felt like it would never end.
😳 Biathlete won bronze and admitted cheating on his girlfriend
Norwegian athlete Sturla Holm Lægreid won his first individual Olympic medal and then, in the mixed zone, admitted he had cheated on his girlfriend. He called her «the love of my life» and said he hopes to win her… pic.twitter.com/n5Y3pc7X0r
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) February 12, 2026
The world collectively curled their toes as Laegried went on blubbering and mumbling about all the ways he’d screwed up. Besides being awkward for everyone involved, the whole performance took the limelight away from Laegried’s teammate, and directed it straight at his poor ex-girlfriend – who by Laegreid’s own account had already been put through enough pain to make the grown man responsible an inconsolable mess.
I’ll hazard a guess that Laegreid regrets using such a public moment to reveal his very private thoughts. Perhaps he got caught up in the emotion of it all. But it’s the subsequent response that’s really surprised me. I expected the moment to go viral, of course – it was completely bonkers. But I can’t say I predicted the backlash Laegried’s received as a result. And not that I wish him to suffer, but I admit it reassured me.
Laegried’s actions were unprecedented for the context in which they took place. But I’ve seen this kind of behaviour time and again in my everyday life. Men using their own misgivings as a fine excuse to partake in heavy-handed navel gazing.
Narcissistic self-soothing is dressed up in tears of regret. Any semblance of an apology is buried deep beneath a sprawling monologue in which he recounts all the ways his mistakes have affected him (not the person on the receiving end of them).
