Some bit their nails. Others sweated under layers of winter clothing. Most of the spectators who watched from afar the history-making men’s 50-kilometer mass start at the Milan-Cortina Olympics sat in tense silence.
Then, as Norway’s cross-country skier Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo won his sixth gold medal, setting records for golds won by a nation and an athlete at a single Winter Olympics, they applauded only cautiously. Even as Norway secured silver and bronze too, the fans at the mountain lodge outside Oslo, restrained their celebrations.
“That’s the only place where we really get the chance to shine,” said Bjorn Saltvik, 56, who rushed home on his own skis as soon as Team Norway crossed the finish line.
On Sunday, Norway became one of the most decorated nations in Winter Olympics history, ending the Milan-Cortina Games with a record 40 medals, 18 of them gold, with events to go before the closing ceremony. After weeks of being in the global spotlight for negative reasons, victory shifted attention favorably.
“Norway has certainly been put on the map in quite a striking negative way recently,” Ivar Ramberg said from the watch party. “The Olympic results might be brought forward as something positive.”
Days before the Winter Olympics, the country was riveted by scandals that raised questions whether Norwegians abroad had betrayed their national values. U.S. Justice Department files revealed how chummy Norway’s future queen, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, was with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. At the same time, her adult son stood trial for rape. The embarrassment extended beyond royalty when police charged former prime minister and past Nobel committee chair, Thorbjorn Jagland with “gross corruption” over his relationship with Mr. Epstein.
Other prominent Norwegian diplomats who have served in international organizations also face scrutiny for their relationship with Mr. Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. The revelations fueled outrage in Norway, where elites, including the royal family, are prized for humility. For some, like Jonas Carlsen, a space engineer who lives in Oslo, seeing the royal family cheering on the athletes felt like a return to “the old days.”
“It’s nice to see the king and crown prince, who were down there celebrating a bit with those who had won medals,” Mr. Carlsen said. “That little break is something those two deserve, because they’ve for sure had some things going on in the family.”
Beneath Norway’s national modesty is a competitiveness that has made the country of 5.6 million the most dominant nation in winter sports. Norway has topped the medal table at three consecutive Winter Olympics: Sochi 2014, Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022.
“I feel like we always do quite well, but maybe it takes on a little more importance when we’ve embarrassed ourselves a little,” said Sara Sofie Strengenes, 29, a competitive skier turned teacher in Oslo. While the country’s success has made her proud, she thinks it’s important that Norway maintains some humility and humor about the Olympics.
“Cheering with cowbells is very Norwegian, and it’s cozy,” she said.
But these victories have sparked as much soul-searching as celebration.
“Norwegians are simple, sober people and we see this in the athletes,” said Daniel Roed-Johansen, a columnist who writes about sport and society for one of Norway’s largest newspapers. Economic and social gains have changed the country, and its sports, he said. Athletes once returned home to their lumber yard jobs after the Winter Games, Mr. Roed-Johansen said. Now they come home to lucrative sponsorship deals.
The Milan-Cortina Games have also highlighted how Norway has used its wealth to ensure broad access to sport as part of everyday life, a model that is shifting as athletes become more professional. Just as the revelations in the Epstein files showed cracks in Norway’s high-trust society, a recent cheating scandal on Norway’s ski jumping team showed that national sport is also vulnerable to corruption, Mr. Roed-Johansen said.
The Olympics are supposed to “radiate positivity,” but politics has made that impossible, said Waris Khan, who said he was monitoring Norway’s medal count. The presence of ICE agents in Milan and the crowds who booed U.S. Vice President JD Vance at the Olympic opening ceremony showed that, he added.
Mr. Khan, 45, moved to Norway from Pakistan and has thrown himself into the sports of his adopted country. Like many Norwegians, he is a fan of Mr. Klaebo, the cross-country skier who was responsible for every sixth medal in Norway’s total haul.
On Saturday, Mr. Klaebo, 29, skied his way to a sixth gold medal in the 50-kilometer mass start. His teammates Martin Loewstroem Nyenget and Emil Iversen took the bronze and silver, bringing Norway’s total medal count to 40. Mr. Klaebo, whose celebrity has now grown beyond Norway, has 11 gold medals, second only to the American swimmer Michael Phelps as the most decorated Olympian.
“A Norwegian has to do something quite exceptional for people in other countries to talk about them,” Mr. Khan said. “Klaebo’s performances are absolutely positive for us. That’s how we want the world to see us.”
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
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