“I wasn’t mentally tough enough for the gold medals”

by Kjell-Erik Kristiansen • 11.07.2024
Gold Anita
She has 6 Olympic and World Championships silver medals and 3 bronzes. But the gold is missing after a long and eventful career.

“I wasn’t mentally tough enough for the gold medals,” now admits Anita Moen, 57, who also flourished during a period when almost the entire Russian national team was caught doping.

“I needed help to plan my tactics in the races. I thought the coaches were bad at that, and I wasn’t mentally robust enough to win. When I won a sprint in the World Cup in Salzburg in the 2002 season, I got help and tips from Tor Arne Hetland, who told me how to plan my tactics,” says Anita Moen to Langrenn.com.

“You’re the fastest of all, so get out in front and control the race,” he said. This resulted in one of the three individual World Cup triumphs that the ski star from Trysil has.

Fighting with doped Russians

In the period around the turn of the millennium, there was also a lot of talk about Russian doping. Ljubov Egorova was caught and sent home in disgrace from the 1997 World Championships in Trondheim. And at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Russia had to withdraw its favorite relay team because several skiers had been caught doping.

“I thought about it at the time too. During the races, I would think ‘Anita, you can’t be behind here, they have no technique at all.’ But they were strong,” says Moen.

“Now I sometimes think that a fourth place in the Olympics might actually have been something completely different. All three on the podium have either been caught or have strong suspicions against them.”

There’s little she can do about it, but it’s annoying with the missing gold medal.

In the national championships, on the other hand, things have gone better. She has no less than 35 medals and 16 golds. In 1993 she also won the King’s Cup.

In shape to win

“I know that sometimes I was physically good enough to win. Before the World Championships in Val di Fiemme in 2003, I was faster than Bente Skari on the intervals, but once again I was too weak when the medals were handed out.”

Anita has won all three of her Olympic and World Championship silver medals in relays. Norway had a strong team at the time, but Russia was – doped or not – difficult to match.

Her greatest joy came at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, when she won her first individual Olympic medal. It was a bronze medal in the 15 km classic, an achievement she followed up with another bronze medal in the sprint in Soldier Hollow outside Salt Lake City four years later.

The first individual Olympic medal came in the 15 km in Nagano in 1998. Photo: Bildbyrån

“Always” on skis

And don’t think that Anita Moen has hung up her skis. No, she skis almost more now than when she was active.

“I run my ski school in Trysil, so I’m out skiing for many hours every day. I’m also often out with my son Kristian, who is now a junior and aiming for cross-country skiing. I can spend seven hours skiing in a day, and then I’m completely exhausted afterwards.”

She doesn’t know how long she’ll be able to keep that up.

“I’ve said two more years now, but we’ll see,” she says, admitting that it’s not so easy to quit either.

In any case, she is still in good shape, the woman who also won Birkebeinerrennet five times. Once it was even the World Cup – that was in 2002 when the World Cup class raced without a backpack.

Was a coach in China

Anita was also part of the coaching team when China suddenly wanted to produce cross-country skiers for its own Olympics in Beijing 2022. She stayed there for a long period in connection with the coronavirus pandemic.

She appeared in the first season of “Skal vi danse” on TV in 2006, and she appeared in “Dropped – Helene’s battle” in 2015 and in “Mesternes mester” in 2017.

In both 2000 and 2002, Anita was runner-up in the sprint World Cup, and in total she has 24 podiums in the World Cup. But that’s a lot of second and third places. She competed internationally in the period 1987-2003.

Her daughter is a national team coach

Her daughter Karoline also has a sports career. She ran in the European Marathon Championships for Switzerland and now coaches the national cross-country skiing team in the Alpine country with her husband Erik. 33-year-old Karoline has Anita with ex-husband Giachem Guidon, who was an Olympic skier for Switzerland. As a result, the family still has close ties with the country’s skiing community.

“They’re very inclusive and helpful, for example when Kristian needs help with waxing or other things. In Norway, I think it’s a bit more difficult. We are perceived as arrogant and not as helpful in the skiing world,” says Anita Moen, who has asked her old friend Petter Northug Jr for help with her son Kristian.

“I don’t understand why Norway doesn’t take more help from Petter. He’s the best tactician Norway has ever had on skis, but when I spoke to him, no one from the ski federation had asked him for help.”

Perhaps that’s exactly the kind of help Anita Moen should have had herself. Maybe the 57-year-old could have shown off a gold medal at home in Trysil?

Anita Moen is still in very good shape. Photo: Private

Anita Moen

  • Lives: In Trysil, Norway
  • Born: August 31, 1967
  • Occupation: Instructor at Anita Moen’s ski school.
  • Family: Two children; Karoline Moen Guidon (33) and Kristian Moen Bonden (16), married to Helge Bonden
  • Clubs as active: Raced for Trysilgutten IL (two years in Nannestad).
  • Ended career: Retired in 2003
  • Best memory from your career: One of my best memories is my first individual Olympic medal 15 km in Nagano 1998. But many good memories, that’s just one of them. My best race was 30 km in Kollen in 1998, finished 2nd, 1 sec from winning
  • What I miss: I miss the excitement of many competitions, good trips together, training in great places. Today I am still close through Karoline who is the national team coach for the women in Switzerland and Kristian who is now going to be a junior and competes and trains well. Keeps mom going.
  • Hobbies today: Can hardly manage anything other than skiing, as the ski school also drags me out skiing a lot, I like to knit and do some outdoor activities when we have time.
Old teammates on a boat trip. In front: Marianne Dahlmo and Elin Nilsen. Behind from left: Anita Moen, Inger Lise Hegge, Maj Helen Sorkmo, Hilde G. Pedersen, Solveig Pedersen, Marit Roaldseth Bjerkeli and Anette Bøe. Photo: Private

Anita Moen – most important results

  • 1 World Cup team sprint, Oberhof (GER) 2003
  • 1 World Cup 4×5 km, Kiruna (SWE) 2002-2003
  • 1 World Cup 58 km classic mass start (Birken), Lillehammer 2002
  • 1 World Cup sprint, Salzburg (AUT) 2001-2002
  • 1 World Cup sprint, Milan (ITA), 1998-1999
  • 2 Olympic Games 4×5 km, Lillehammer (NOR) 1994
  • 2 Olympic Games 4×5 km, Nagano (JPN) 1998
  • 2 Olympic Games 4×5 km, Salt Lake City (USA) 2002
  • 2 World Championships 4×5 km, Thunder Bay (CAN) 1995
  • 2 World Championships 4×5 km, Lahti (FIN) 2001
  • 2 World Championships 4×5 km, Val di Fiemme (ITA) 2003
  • 2 World Cup 4×5 km, Nove Mesto (CZE) 2003
  • 2 World Cup 4×5 km, Falun (SWE) 2002
  • 2 World Cup sprint, Asiago (ITA) 2001
  • 2 World Cup sprint, Engelberg (SUI) 1999-2000
  • 2 World Cup 5 km classic, Kiruna (SWE) 1999-2000
  • 2 World Cup 5 km classic, Val di Fiemme (ITA) 1997-1998
  • 2 World Cup sprint, Reit in Winkl (GER) 1996
  • 2 World Cup 30 km classic, Holmenkollen (NOR) 1995
  • 3 Olympic 15 km classic, Nagano (JPN) 1998
  • 3 Olympic sprint, Salt Lake City (USA) 2002
  • 3 World Championships 4×5 km, Falun (SWE) 1993
  • 3 World Cup 15 km classic mass start, Cogne (ITA) 2002-2003
  • 3 World Cup sprint, Düsseldorf (GER) 2002-2003
  • 3 World Cup sprint, Stockholm (SWE) 2002
  • 3 World Cup sprint, Holmenkollen (NOR) 2000
  • 3 World Cup 15 km classic, Lahti (FIN) 2000
  • 3 World Cup sprint, Kitzbühel (AUT), 1999-2000
  • 3 World Cup 30 km classic, Holmenkollen (NOR), 1998
  • 3 World Cup 15 km classic, Davos (SUI), 1997-1998
  • 3 World Cup sprint, Milan (ITA), 1997-1998
  • 3 World Cup 10 km classic, Oberstdorf (GER), 1996-1997
  • Four victories in Birkebeinerrennet (1998-2001), in addition she won in 2002, when Birkebeinerrennet was a World Cup race, she then participated in the special World Cup class where the participants did not wear a backpack.
  • 35 NM medals, of which 16 gold
  • 1993 King’s Cup

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