Quotes

[On his watch collection] I have over thirty of them. But my contract with Certina is great for me... I now have a watch with my own autograph. You know, I wanted a sponsor whose product I could identify with. Other watch makers gave me offers, but I did not like them, and I can't pretend. I wanted to associate myself with someone full of conviction. Somehow, it matters.

Nordic skiing is terribly boring. It cannot even compare with biathlon. In Nordic, even before the race, you can guess who will win, and you will have a very high chance of being right. With biathlon, everything can change in an instant. You can come into the range first and leave it close to last. Or the other way around.

Sochi will definitely be an important point for me, but will it be time to say 'enough'? I'm not sure. We will see- maybe I will continue to race.

I always forget that (I'm 40). I feel like I'm 20. My age is perfect, I am in super form. I prepared well for this and I am feeling strong.

In my eyes, Bjorn (Bjørn Dæhlie) is still the biggest athlete in Norway.

Now, there are never less than 5,000 spectators at the stadium at World Cup races, and often we will have more than 35,000.

With the skis in particular, it seems like there is a small revolution almost every season. Skis are now a lot lighter, more stable and faster, and there are entirely different materials used for both bases and construction than when I first started racing.

We have used the same weapon and the same mechanical setup during the entire time I've been active. Norwegian biathlete Eirik Kvalfoss would use a minute to shoot one series. These days, none of the best racers use more than 20 seconds.