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Passion

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Learn from the best.
She is one of our greatest sports stars.
She won 7 World Champ. and 2 Olympic silver medals. But that is not the only reason why we all love Liv Grete. When she announced her retirement the NRK reporter Kjell Kristian Rike said that it was sun itself who disapeared (Awww! How cute! ). Liv Grete has done her sport with tough discipline, but also with her charm and charisma she given us the feeling that winning is so easy!
Now she tells us, with the same enthusiasm, about her new life in an exclusive interview with KK Kropp.
She and her husband Raphael expect their second child, and Liv Grete looks forward to be around husband and children. It was also a wish to be closer to her daughter Emma that triggered the decision to retire from sport at the top level.
- I was more motivated to stay at home with Emma, than to travel, competing in biathlon - she says.
Just now Liv Grete trains as little as possible and paradoxicaly just now we can ask her to advice about training.

Enjoyer of life wants to be best on home ground.
Liv Grete fears that her competition instinct can come back. That is why she wants to be in a bad shape.
The surface of Skjelbredvannet (Lake Skjelbred) is calm and flat. Everything aroun us looks like a tourist advert of Norway. High mountains, flowers, quite beaches. Two small splashes breaks the silence.
- Oi, I got two! Do you want me to throw more? - asks Liv Grete the photographer. She laughs and holds a new stone in her hand (if you throw a flat stone on the water in a special way, the stone will jump on the surface, that is what Liv was doing).
We are in Skjelbreid land, the district which gave us Norway's most successful female biathlet. Here she has been running the ski tracks since she was 9. Here she ran after the ball for the local football team, and here she has thrown jumping stones in the water.
- It is very nice here in the morning or in the evening. Then I can take my kayak an paddle around. I get a feeling of complete peace when I'm on the water, - tells Liv Grete.
She used to travel from podiums and biathlon competitions back to Vestlandet (the part of Norway where she came from). Three years ago she and Raph build a house here. Her homeplace means a lot.
- Especially after I began to get good results, here where I grew uo, I could find a peace. Here I have family and friends around me and for them I am just Liv Grete, - she states quietly.

Growing plans.
Now her feet can be resting at home. 20th of March was the day when biathlon loving Norwegians cried .
- Yes, it is over - she says.
- Completely?
- Yes, completely, - repeats Liv Grete with her famos broad smile and rolling laughter.
Why she became the darling of the media and amongst the people she can't tell.
- I don't know. Maybe it'it because I never will be a grown up. Both in positive and negative way. I simply can't take things too seriously, - laughs Liv Grete.
But she was deeply touched by the media and fans reaction when she decided to retire. The decision was not hard to take. She had simply has lost the motivation.
- I wanted to be at home with Emma. I could no longer be at my best without leaving her, and if I couldn't do my job proper - I rather quit. But I wished that the Olympics was half a year later, because my results were on the upgrade.
- You wanted to take a bow with a bang?
- Aha, - Liv Grete laughs again.
It was not many days after the retirement of the sporting queen, that journalists and public started to ask: what next? Should she become a coach? Be a motivator for young girls? Work for Rossignol? Liv Grete has to smile at these curiosity.
- It is still a question mark. Up until now I have worked with the sponsors and now I will start a couple of new very exciting projects ( ), - she says and looks like she has a big secret ( ).
The ex-biathlet will not be out of work. While Raph still will be a travelling sportsman for three or four years, will Liv Grete travel between their houses at Skjelbreid and Grenoble?
- Everyone says it will be difficult with two kids, but when they say that, it makes me want to show them that I can do it. One of the best things with being out of sport is that I can decide over my own life. Think about it: I can eat what I like and stay up at night without thinking of being out of shape the next day.

Pretty bad shape.
- What about training?
Liv Grete thinks about if for a while:
- Noooooooooo, well this summer has been with much outdoor work and it is not easy to find time to train when I have to ask someone to look after Emma. But now I feel eager to train again, because it is a long time since last time. - She underlines the last words. She thinks it's pretty good thing to not train hard for 20 or 25 hours a week with shooting in addition. Now she looks forward to a trip with ergonomic bicycle or a jog in the wood.
- You know, - she says, - I'm so afraid that I suddenly get the competition will back, so I want to stay in a pretty bad shape.
The medals and victories will not call her back, but the feeling of doing something perfect is always tempting.
- Now I don't know what to do when I woke up in the morning! "Shall we take a walk in the wood, Emma? No? Hmmm... what shall I do then?"
And when the season starts again Liv Grete knows she will feel the desire of competing again. She knows from the time she had Emma:
- Then I watched TV, the others stood at the start, perfect weather and sun. I had to tell myself: "No, you're finished!". And especially if some of the best girls had problems I thought: "D**n it, now you should have been there!" ( )

Mentally down.
The winter of 2004. Before the season nobody took it for granted that Liv Grete could return to the skiing tracks after giving birth to Emma. But Liv Grete came back and in top condition and didn't skip a single world cup competition. Together with her husband she almost sweeps the trophy table clean. The pressure from the press was enormous and gratulations were many. But even if Liv Grete smiled like a sun she was longing for her baby. She was mentally exhausted and wanted to go home to her child.
- I should have gone home and not participate in all competitions, - says Liv Grete. Today she describes the situation like she was overexhausted from too much work.
- But when you're in the middle of it, you do what you have to do. When I finally relaxed, it was almost too late. If you are tired long enough, every part of you suffers.
The new situation was difficult. She was affraid she didn't take good care of Emma.
- But then I got motivation, and if I had, say, a full-time job, she would have seen me as little. And still I found time for her: I ran with her in the carriage when she was just a baby and I was by her side all the time when I didn't train.
She makes it clear that a child is no obstacle for sporting success, but underlines that without help from her parents it would not be a successful season in 2003-2004.
- They have changed their lives to help us, - she explains and invite KK to the Skjelbreid's family house which clings to the riffs.

French feelings.
- It would be nice here when it's finished, - says Liv Grete and nods to an almost green place with grass around Poiree house. It is build of wood and natural stone. Raphael comes walking from a training pass. With the wood only meters from the house, can the Frenchman do his trainings every day and still be a good husband and father?
- Now my role will be to give him full support and make him confident enough to think only about himself during competition. We, the family, will follow his schedule, - explains Liv Grete seriously, before she jokes again.
- But if he trains too much, his temper goes worse, and I must be very strict with him.
- What do you do then?
- I ask him to go to bed, and he never protests. He understands and knows that everything will be better after a couple of hours ( )
According to Liv Grete sometimes it becomes like a "lapskaus" (it is a Norwegian dish with meat, potatoes and greens cut in peaces and cooked in a brown sauce) when French attitude and Norwegian temperament lives under the same roof. The result - never a boring life. Maybe it is the reason why Liv Grete is afraid to miss it too much in the followinf winter.
- It is not before now that I understood how much we travelled. I have no intention to sit back home being grumpy, because it is much worse for the one who travel. He will be alone and at work. My job is to motivate him, give him support and I must live with my longing for him. If I miss him - it'll be a good sign, I must think of it like that.
- And, btw, it is greedy good if it is -20, and I can sit at home nicely and with my big stomach and watch them freeze and struggle! (Haaaaaaa-haaaaaaa! Finally, this is REAL Liv Grete! )