Norwegian gold medalist Johan-Olav Botn was emotional after his gold and paid tribute to his late teammate Sivert Guttorm Bakken, who was found dead in a hotel room before Christmas.

But Laegreid was emotional for completely different reasons. After talking about the joy of winning the first Olympic medal of his career, the interview took an unexpected turn when he talked about the love of his life. Laegreid spoke candidly about how three months ago he made “the mistake of his life” by cheating on the love of his life, a girl he had been with for six months.

The interview went viral and has been broadcast worldwide – and now his ex-girlfriend is speaking out for the first time about the almost bizarre situation. She wishes, she tells Norwegian media that she wishes to remain anonymous.

And is not happy with the biathlon star’s actions. She said in a statement written to Norwegian media house VG, “It’s hard to forgive. Even though it’s a declaration of love in front of the whole world,” she continued. “I didn’t choose to be put in that position, and it hurts to have to stand in it. We’ve been in contact, and he knows what I think about this.”

Sturla Holm Laegreid has been heavily criticized for his actions. Not least because the interview stole the focus from teammate Johan-Olav Botn’s fantastic performance, with gold in his Olympic debut, and the tributes to the late Guttorm Bakken ended up in the shadows.

“I see it myself now in retrospect. This is Johan-Olav’s day and it was a shame that this got so much attention. I hope I haven’t ruined Johan-Olav’s day,” Laegreid told VG hours after the interview on Tuesday.

What did you think of the Olympic athlete’s tearful admission? Let us know in the comments section below. Share this with others to see what they think about the situation as a whole.