FOR GOOD AGAINST: Ezinne Okparaebo smiled and laughed in the usual way when VG met her at Bislett. Photo: gabriel aas skålevik / VG
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BISLETT STADION (VG) 16 years after she took her first NM gold, Ezinne Okparaebo (33) has decided that she will give herself to the top level.
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Gabriel Aas Skålevik (photo)
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At Bislett, Ezinne Okparaebo has had some of her greatest experiences in her career. Looking out over the arena she calls “her Oval Office”, she is ready to say that life as a top athlete is over.
– Now I have settled down with it, but it has been a process. I did not want to give up too soon, so it is a process and then you come to a realization that it is right for me. Now I give it away, says Okparaebo to VG.
One of the things she will miss most is to absorb energy from a lit audience and to feel the nerves before an important competition.
– I will not do any “crazy” things just to feel it, but I think I will miss it a bit. A friend of mine described it as a gladiator feeling. Right there and then it’s about life and death, but in retrospect it’s just a sporting achievement.
—-THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT: Ezinne Okparaebo has had several good evenings at Bislett. – I want to thank everyone who has cheered on me throughout my career and supported me. This has been a bit of a journey, she says. Photo: gabriel aas skålevik / VG
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She even says she looks back on a career without remorse.
– I am very happy with what I have achieved. For my part, it was always me who had to “push” the boundaries. There have been many ups and downs, but at the same time I have learned a lot about myself, says the sprinter.
Sportingly, the London Olympics were some of the biggest for Okparaebo. Then she ran into the Norwegian record with a time of 11.10 and was only nine hundredths from a final.
– One thing is the medals and the experiences. When I look back on it now, it’s bigger than when it happened. It’s almost like you have a goal and when you achieve it, you think of course I did it. When you get it a little at a distance, you think that it was very big to run the Olympics in London in front of 70,000 spectators and run in for personal best and almost a final.
– Or running on Bislett and getting standing ovations. And the medals I have taken, but all in all, when I meet someone who says that “you are my role model” or “you have inspired me” – that is the biggest thing for me. Medal is just one thing. A record is something that can be broken, but the power of influence and that you have inspired others, I think is much bigger, she says.
One who has had great influence on Okparaebo is Unni Helland.
– She was my first coach and I have had many coaches since then, but she is much more than a coach. I feel she has always been there for me and is a person to talk to. She has been an important person in athletics and an important person for me, says Okparaebo.
– One day it will come, but of course you think it’s sad. She has given up before she has been beaten in Norway, but you must have the motivation. Otherwise you will not get anything out of it, says Helland.
—-ROLE MODEL: Unni Helland is highlighted as an important contributor in Ezinne Okparaebo’s successful career. Photo: gabriel aas skålevik / VG
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After participating in the Olympics in 2008, 2012 and 2016, Okparaebo must watch this summer’s Olympics from the couch.
– I think I have to do it. Now I have been through that process for a long time and have settled down with it. Then I think it’s easier to be able to have it with me and enjoy it, she says.
– Could it be that we get to see you in the NC next year, for example?
Okparebo bursts out laughing, before answering:
– It’s always what you hear about. Relay is something I can do for the club to “boost the team”, but for me the commitment at the high level is above.
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