Norwegian skier misses out on gold medal at Beijing Olympics after 'silly mistake' in Nordic combined
Norwegian skier Jarl Magnus Riiber made a "silly mistake" that cost him an Olympic gold medal in Nordic combined, just one day after coming out of isolation for COVID-19.
Riiber entered the 10K cross-country race with a 44-second lead over his competitors after landing an impressive jump in the first phase of the Nordic combined, a combo of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. But Riiber took a wrong turn on the course.
"Maybe it’s not my Olympics," Riiber said. "It’s not fun to show the world that I maybe wasted a gold medal."
Instead of looping around for the final two laps, Riiber skied toward the finish line. He backtracked but the error cost him nearly 40 seconds that proved to be valuable.
Riiber finished eighth, just 39.8 seconds behind gold medalist Joergen Graabak of Norway. Fellow Norwegian Jens Luraas Oftebro earned silver and Japan's Akito Watabe won bronze.
"I wouldn't wish that on anyone, to go wrong at the Olympics," Graabak said.
Riiber was cleared to compete in the large hill/10km the same day of the competition on Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19 upon his arrival at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and spending more than 10 days confined to his hotel in isolation.
He hadn't been able to ski in 14 days, according to NBC Olympics, meaning he wasn't as familiar with the course compared to his other competitors.
"I had been locked inside for two weeks, not breathing fresh air. My body is not working. Normally, I’m one of the better skiers and today I was just bad," he said.
Riiber said his lack of conditioning due to the virus and hotel confinement also impacted his performance. Freezing temperatures below zero degrees Fahrenheit didn't help.
"It was more of a physical problem," said Riiber. "When I’m in normal shape, the mental part is normally there. I was not able to ski normal. I was feeling quite bad."
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In Nordic combined, the athlete who jumps the farthest and impresses judges the most starts the cross-country portion of the event with a lead. The rest of the field follows, in order of the finish in ski jumping. The first to cross the finish line wins gold.
Riiber jumped 142 meters (466 feet) and earned 139.8 points in the phase of the competition, the highest score in the 48-competitor field. He started the 10km cross-country ski first and looked like he was headed to the top of the podium until his miscue.
But Riiber said he's not going to get hung up on losing a medal.
"I have to bring the positive thing from the ski jumping hill," he said. "I really showed where the potential is. If I bring that together with a normal cross-country race I am unbeatable, so I just have to take the good things out of it."
MORE: Finnish cross-country skier wins gold, watches rest of race and waits to embrace last-place finisher
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jarl Magnus Riiber of Norway misses out on gold after 'silly mistake'
