Nordic Nation: The ‘Take a Bow’ (50th!) Episode with Marit Bjørgen

The stats are simply mind-boggling. Essentially, Norway’s Marit Bjørgen has the mostest. The most decorated Winter Olympic medalist: 15 total medals, eight gold, four silver, and three bronze — over five Olympiads from 2002 to 2018. The most World Championships bling: 26 total medals, 18 gold, five silver, and three bronze. Bjørgen won 114 individual World Cups and podiumed 184 times on the World Cup.

Take a bow. Marit Bjørgen of Norway winning the 30-kilometer classic mass start at 2015 World Championships in Falun, Sweden. (Photo: Nordic Focus/Fischer)

Maybe something more sentimental for the core Norwegian fan, this past March, Bjørgen won a record seventh Holmenkollen 30 k. And she won that in un-Bjørgen like style by coming from behind to reel in a speedy Jessie Diggins.

Norway’s Marit Bjørgen celebrates her seventh Holmenkollen 30 k victory in Oslo, Norway, ahead of American Jessie Diggins, Norway’s Ragnhild Haga (not shown) and Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla. (Photo: Fischer/NordicFocus)

This brings us to the point that this is the 50th episode of Nordic Nation. So, we wanted to go big. Really, no one is bigger than Bjørgen in the sport. In this ‘Take a Bow’ episode with Marit, we cover motherhood, training, racing, the media, and growing up in a small Norwegian club with three racers. The newly retired Bjørgen, 38, was interviewed last Tuesday, July 10.

Enjoy.

Jason Albert

Jason lives in Bend, Ore., and can often be seen chasing his two boys around town. He’s a self-proclaimed audio geek. That all started back in the early 1990s when he convinced a naive public radio editor he should report a story from Alaska’s, Ruth Gorge. Now, Jason’s common companion is his field-recording gear.