Earning a Gold in Cheating — The Lexington Line

The Olympics are a joyful time of community every two years when we find a new form of nationalism, an athlete to obsess over that we didn’t know existed a month ago, and, of course, drama. There’s no better drama than that of the greatest athletes in the world—especially those at the winter Olympics. I do think winter Olympic athletes are just a bit more insane than their counterparts in the summer Olympics, because I think most of their sports are made up by people suffering from aggressive seasonal depression. All of these people have an absolute death wish, and that kind of crazy makes the drama that much better.

Sturla Holm Laegreid is the newest cheater heard around the world. No, not in his sport, but on his (newish?!) girlfriend. Leagreid is a Norwegian biathlete. A girl had to know what she was signing up for when she chose to date a man that skied 20km with a rifle on his back. He won bronze in the 20km biathlon, which is cross-country skiing with spouts of shooting along the way. In his press conference after his third-place win, he confessed to making the biggest mistake of his life by cheating on his girlfriend of six months, three months ago. He asked if she would take him back on live television, admitting that she probably isn’t even watching.

I do think this is utterly nuanced, and if we're going to be dissecting this piece of drama, we have to pinpoint several things. First, he was dating the ‘love of his life’ for just three months before he cheated on her. He then went on to date her for three more months before telling her. He decided to victimize himself and bring his personal life into his work life, using his platform as a professional athlete to create this media buzz around his personal brand. While he has generated mass amounts of buzz by understanding all press is good press, would this have been more powerful if he were to win the gold medal?

Everyone I’ve talked to in my life about it has brought up this same point. He barely got a chance to speak with his third-place finish. He got third place, and he's using his time not to talk about his sport, but his personal mistakes.

So, as the girl, what do you do? There hasn’t yet been any release of her response, and now that the Olympics are over, perhaps that ship has sailed. I don’t think that anyone should get back with someone that cheated on them, and I hope his narcissistic gesture didn’t sway her. Is there really a correct way to tell your partner you cheated on them? I do think it’s absolutely mental to cheat on someone you’re referring to as the love of your life and expect them to get back with you.

But really, we’re living in a sort of dating-centric generation in a dating- centric city. A big part of dating, unfortunately, is cheating. I think it likely happens more often than we even know, and it’s an interesting factor of dating to inspect. Is cheating culture just as prevalent as dating culture? Is cheating dating’s taboo cousin? And even though we all say NO! You can’t go back to him after he cheated! How many of them given another chance? And I get it, I understand why. You’re comfortable with a certain person, you’re in love with them, even. Rose colored glasses are a powerful drug, and I do fear admitting my man begging for me on national television would probably just work.

If your boyfriend or girlfriend admitted they cheated on national TV, would you forgive them or dump them? Leave a comment down below!