Yesterday, Norwegian biathlon athlete Sturla Holm Lægreid made headlines for an interview he did after winning the bronze medal for the men’s 20 km. For some reason, he used the interview as an opportunity to admit to cheating on his girlfriend.
“And there’s someone I want to share this with who may not be watching today,” Lægreid said. “Six months ago, I met the love of my life. The most beautiful, wonderful person in the world, and three months ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life and cheated on her, and that’s all I’ve been thinking about for a week. And it’s been the worst week of my life. So I had a gold medal in life. I’m sure there are many people out there now who see me in a different light, but I only have eyes for her.”
He continued to say that he isn’t ready to give up, admitting to “committing social suicide” to show her how much he cares.
The social media reactions have been…incredible.
Public humiliation has been used as a form of punishment for cheating by partners for a long time. In this case, Lægreid willingly did this on his own and didn’t need his partner to be involved with the confession at all. Public announcements about cheating exist on a spectrum, sure: People have gone viral for sharing their cheating stories on social media — whether they were doing it themselves or being cheated on — sometimes finding community or advice along the way. It’s like the kind of posts you might see when a famous couple or a couple with a social media following are impacted due to this conflict.
There are also very, very public displays that take it…a bit too far. Lægreid’s confession speech is a perfect example. Below are a few others.
The only thing worse than cheating — or being cheated on, I’d argue — is airing out your private business in such an unnecessarily public way. For partners who go in on this kind of public spectacle together, it definitely does not get the result that they’re looking for. This usually ends up being so self-deprecating for both parties involved that it’s almost too hard for outside spectators to look at. Maybe it makes the cheater have a bad reputation in public, sure, but it in turn also makes the partner who got cheated on look just as bad.
While this isn’t exactly what’s happening here with Lægreid, it definitely didn’t achieve the result he was hoping for. Ruining the moment you worked so hard to achieve just to further embarrass yourself and not win back your partner is even more humiliating than cheating on its own.
It’s also rather manipulative to air this out to millions of people, putting his ex-partner on the spot where she’ll face potential public pressure when she clearly had nothing to do with it. Public humiliation as a “punishment” to cheating, whether the other partner is involved or not, is embarrassing and not effective.
Since this interview dropped, Lægreid’s ex spoke out, saying that it’s still “hard to forgive, even after a declaration of love in front of the whole world.” Very glad to hear that this woman is standing her ground.
Today, the Norwegian team shared a statement with People, saying Lægreid “deeply regrets” bringing the situation up at all.
“I am not quite myself today, and I am not thinking clearly. My apologies go to Johan-Olav, who deserved all the attention after the gold,” his statement read. “It also goes to my ex-girlfriend, who involuntarily ended up in the media spotlight. I hope she is doing well.”
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