GotZoom
Senior Member
The outgoing head coach for Norway's cross-country skiers has become something of a national hero in Canada, after he impulsively aided a Canadian competitor who went on to win a silver medal in Tuesday's sprint relay. The Norwegian skiers ended up fourth.
Norwegian skiing chief Bjørnar Håkensmoen had to watch his disappointed skier Marit Bjørgen drop out of a race on Sunday because of illness. Bjørgen placed fourth in Tuesday's sprint relay, while the Canadians took silver.
Bjørnar Håkensmoen was on the scene when Canadian cross-country skier Sara Renner's left pole broke during the sprint relay final. He immediately gave her his, and that enabled Renner and team mate Beckie Scott to ultimately claim the relay's silver medal.
Håkensmoen claims he simply reacted like any good sport should, telling the newspaper Toronto Sun that Norwegian policy calls for handing over poles or skis in time of need.
"We talked about it at our team meeting the night before," he told the Toronto paper. "We are a country which believes in fair play."
Canadian media gave major play to Håkensmoen's good deed, with one, Québec's Le Journal de Montréal even publishing a huge "TAKK" (Norwegian for "thank you") on its front page. Another paper, The Gazette, suggested that every Canadian who meets a Norwegian in a bar, should buy him or her a beer, according to reader François Trudeau, a university professor in Quebec.
Trudeau is among dozens of grateful Canadians who have written to Aftenposten's English Web Desk. They're all keen to spread the word in Norway of Canada's gratitude, and many are amazed that a Norwegian coach would make such a gesture. Not least because his own skiers, favoured in the race, ended up in fourth place with no medals at all.
"Our new Olympic Hero is Bjornar Haakensmoen," wrote George Araujo of Port Dover, Ontario, calling him "a living testament to the true meaning of sport."
"There can be no better example of the Olympic ideal of sportsmanship than was demonstrated by Norwegian coach Bjornar Haakensmoen," echoed Bruce Norgren of Waterloo, Ontario.
"In a world gone mad... with even the simplest of misunderstandings leading to violence the world over, it's heartening to see that we can still be human," wrote Mark Rice of Toronto. "The selfless act of Bjornar Hakensmoen, the Norwegian cross-country ski boss, in handing a new ski pole to Canadian Sara Renner, during the heat of competition, without thought as to how the outcome might have affected his own team, stands alone in my mind as one of the brightest moments I can recall in this, or any other Olympics."
Geoff Snow of Waterford, Ontario summed up a sentiment in many of the letters sent to Aftenposten's English Web Desk: "In the eyes of Canadians, we took a silver medal, but Norway has won gold for sportsmanship."
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/sports/article1225796.ece
Norwegian skiing chief Bjørnar Håkensmoen had to watch his disappointed skier Marit Bjørgen drop out of a race on Sunday because of illness. Bjørgen placed fourth in Tuesday's sprint relay, while the Canadians took silver.
Bjørnar Håkensmoen was on the scene when Canadian cross-country skier Sara Renner's left pole broke during the sprint relay final. He immediately gave her his, and that enabled Renner and team mate Beckie Scott to ultimately claim the relay's silver medal.
Håkensmoen claims he simply reacted like any good sport should, telling the newspaper Toronto Sun that Norwegian policy calls for handing over poles or skis in time of need.
"We talked about it at our team meeting the night before," he told the Toronto paper. "We are a country which believes in fair play."
Canadian media gave major play to Håkensmoen's good deed, with one, Québec's Le Journal de Montréal even publishing a huge "TAKK" (Norwegian for "thank you") on its front page. Another paper, The Gazette, suggested that every Canadian who meets a Norwegian in a bar, should buy him or her a beer, according to reader François Trudeau, a university professor in Quebec.
Trudeau is among dozens of grateful Canadians who have written to Aftenposten's English Web Desk. They're all keen to spread the word in Norway of Canada's gratitude, and many are amazed that a Norwegian coach would make such a gesture. Not least because his own skiers, favoured in the race, ended up in fourth place with no medals at all.
"Our new Olympic Hero is Bjornar Haakensmoen," wrote George Araujo of Port Dover, Ontario, calling him "a living testament to the true meaning of sport."
"There can be no better example of the Olympic ideal of sportsmanship than was demonstrated by Norwegian coach Bjornar Haakensmoen," echoed Bruce Norgren of Waterloo, Ontario.
"In a world gone mad... with even the simplest of misunderstandings leading to violence the world over, it's heartening to see that we can still be human," wrote Mark Rice of Toronto. "The selfless act of Bjornar Hakensmoen, the Norwegian cross-country ski boss, in handing a new ski pole to Canadian Sara Renner, during the heat of competition, without thought as to how the outcome might have affected his own team, stands alone in my mind as one of the brightest moments I can recall in this, or any other Olympics."
Geoff Snow of Waterford, Ontario summed up a sentiment in many of the letters sent to Aftenposten's English Web Desk: "In the eyes of Canadians, we took a silver medal, but Norway has won gold for sportsmanship."
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/sports/article1225796.ece
