WRITING COLOUR PIECE – A sick skiing nation - Dagbladet

AIPS Award winner in 2020 (1st place in Best Colour Piece) returns to the final with another top project for Dagbladet, depicting 82 stories showing the prevalence of eating disorders in Norwegian cross-country skiing. The work was performed by Dagbladet team (Oksnes, John Rasmussen, Jorun Gaarder, Øyvind Godø). Through X-ray scans and advanced hormone blood tests, damages and diseases in the skiers‘ skeletons and bodies were found. Validated psychological tests performed by the newspaper revealed that 30 % of the cross-country skiing girls suffers from disordered eating. In the article selected to compete, a 15-year old girl states that she eats 500 calories a day and asks a specialist: “Can I die?”. After the publications Norway has changed the education of ski coaches. Public apologies are issued to skiers who were pressured into weight loss by coaches. The parliament has also opened investigations. Article in Norwegian: https://www.dagbladet.no/sport/kan-jeg-do-liksom/74789157