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When an Olympic athlete wins bronze, silver, or gold, they typically thank their loved ones on camera and go about their day. For Sturla Holm Lægreid, however, he had to make things extra weird and awkward for literally everyone when he admitted to cheating on his girlfriend. Yes, on camera. And yes, live on television. I’m not sure why he thought this was the best platform for that, but um, sir, this was far from the time or place to do that.
Before Sturla got on camera to share his thoughts about his bronze medal in the men’s biathlon, another athlete on his team, Johan-Olav Botn, thanked his friends and loved ones for his gold medal win and called out a team mate who had died months previously. When Sturla began crying in front of the camera, people thought he might also mention the fallen teammate. But nah, the tears were because of his own admitted wrongdoing months into a relationship with the “love of [his] life.”
He confessed to the affair after winning a bronze medal.
NEW: Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid admits to cheating on his girlfriend after winning a bronze medal at the Winter Olympics.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 10, 2026
Sturla Holm Laegreid broke down in tears as he talked about the "worst week" of his life.
"I had a gold medal in my life, and there are… pic.twitter.com/VDB1pNlRue
After Sturla won his bronze medal, he spoke to a reporter in a clip that has since gone viral on the internet, including in a Reddit thread where people are asking what the actual heck went through Sturla’s mind when he opened up about cheating on his girlfriend. I guess this guy needed a platform to proclaim his continued love for his girlfriend. Maybe she’ll be impressed by his bronze medal?
“It’s my first Olympic medal,” Sturla says in the video. “I want to thank everyone who has helped me along the way. The waxers for a great day of skiing, my whole family for supporting me. And there’s someone I want to share this with who may not be watching today. 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.”
He adds that the entire week leading up to him winning the medal was the worst week of his life. He also says, “I had a gold medal in life.” Although the moment after his medal win was kind of the worst time to bring up the cheating, the camera definitely stayed on him the entire time, even with a well-timed zoom in on Sturla’s face, because apparently the cameraperson likes messiness as much as the rest of us.
On Reddit, people were absolutely dumbfounded about the timing of it all.
“How does one say: ‘Sir this is an Arby’s’ in Norwegian?” One user joked. Because seriously, what was Sturla thinking?
Someone else pointed out that if Sturla thought his girlfriend would forgive him because of the viral clip, he is going to be disappointed.
“Ironically, this lowers the chance of her forgiving him,” they commented on the Reddit thread. “Now he went viral and their whole country knows about his cheating. She won’t find this confession ‘sweet.’ She’ll find this stunt as embarrassing/cringe.”
Someone else added, “Also, not to dismiss feelings in relationships, but his girlfriend of SIX MONTHS. Not even of years. Six months. It’s like they basically just started dating. That does not mean one cannot have seriously deep feelings for someone else in six months. But it is kind of a little anticlimactic to me. Stakes are a lot lower than if she were his wife of, I don’t know, 10 years.”
