My Norwegian newspaper subscription is worth its weight in gold. Aftenbladet has given its 2023 sport's achievement award to Narve Nordas and some of the quotes from Nordas are bound to turn some heads. Here are the highlights via bing/google translate.
- For me, it's a bit like that. Every day I think "Heck, I'll take him next year". We'll see next year. Then there will be an Olympics in Paris. Jakob Ingebrigtsen can easily beat me in all races before that, as long as I manage to beat him in Paris. That is the most important thing...."I never in my life thought a World Championship bronze would be possible for me. Not until after the race at Bislett in June this year. Now I think anything is possible. Now I can take gold at the Olympics next year. I don't see any limitations.
He also admits that maybe he's sometimes too honest with the media.
"Yes, I'm always a little naïve and maybe give a little too much. But I'm never going to stop being honest or saying exactly what I mean. Sometimes it's okay not to say everything, but I'm not going to go to a media training course or get a PR adviser."
If you speak Norwegian, here are the quotes:
– For meg er det litt slik. Hver dag tenker jeg «Hekkan, jeg skal ta ham neste år». Vi får se neste år. Da kommer det et OL i Paris. Jakob Ingebrigtsen kan gjerne slå meg i alle løp før det, så lenge jeg klarer å ta ham i Paris. Det er det viktigste, understreker Gilje Nordås og smiler...
– Jeg hadde aldri noen gang i livet trodd en VM-bronse ville være mulig for meg. Ikke før etter løpet på Bislett i juni i år. Nå tror jeg alt er mulig. Nå kan jeg ta gull i OL neste år. Jeg ser ingen begrensninger...
– Ja, jeg er alltid litt naiv og gir kanskje litt for mye. Men jeg kommer aldri til å slutte å være ærlig eller si akkurat hva jeg mener. Noen ganger er det greit å la være å si alt, men jeg kommer ikke til å gå på noe medietreningskurs eller få en PR-rådgiver, svarer han.
At another point in the article, it says the brothers asked him to no longer be coached by their father but he declined to take that advice.
