The mother of the champion in jumping candidly about the family tragedy. “I was crying all the time”

May 26 in Poland is celebrated Mother’s Day. Many fans cheer on their favorite athletes during competitions on international arenas, but hardly anyone thinks about the people who raised them and infected them with love for sport. Interia Sport had the opportunity to talk to Trude Tande, mother of Daniel Andre Tande – Norwegian jumper, and also world champion and Olympic champion.

The woman told us about what kind of child Daniel was and touched on the tragedy that happened to her family just a few months before the day she died. Daniel-Andre Tande got his first individual medal in a career.

Interview with Piotr Żyła. When is your career over? VIDEO/ /INTERIA.TV/ /INTERIA.TV

Amanda Gawron, Interia Sport: What kind of child was Daniel? I know he started jumping at a very young age. Did you expect your son to become an Olympic champion and a world champion in flying one day?

Trude Tande: – When Daniel was still a little boy, I did not think that he would ever become an Olympian. He was an extremely active child, he wanted to try everything. He played the saxophone, played football, basketball, volleyball. He wanted to be good at everything. But when he chose ski jumping and he told me that he would go to the Olympics someday, I believed that he would.

Let’s go back to 2018 when Daniel won his first individual gold medal at the Skiflying World Championships in Oberstdorf. What did you think when you saw your son with the gold disc?

“I cried all the time that day. It was definitely an emotional moment for our family. Daniel won the medal just a few months after we lost our youngest son Håkon. When Daniel became world champion, I wanted to be with him because I could see how emotional he was. It was a really tough day but we were proud of what he achieved.

Didn’t you think at that point that ski jumping was not so much a blessing as a curse for your family?

– No, we love ski jumping. But you know, we lost Håkon back then. A few months later, Daniel won a medal. It was a really hard time for us. Of course, we were happy with our son’s achievement. We sat in our house and cried, we wanted to be in Oberstdorf together with Daniel.

I know that Håkon also wanted to become a ski jumper, hence my question.

– Yes, he started training when he was four years old. People said at the time that he had great talent. That he could be very good at it, even better than Daniel. But well…

Daniel’s record for jump length was set in 2018 in Planica. Three years later, your son suffered a terrible fall there, which shook the hearts of fans and journalists. Many of them believed that after such an incident, Daniel would end his career. But he came back even stronger. Did the day of the fall affect your family?

– When I got to the hospital in Ljubljana, Daniel woke up from the coma. We talked a lot then. I told him: “If you want to end your jumping adventure, do it. But if you want to continue your career, it’s your life and you have to make a decision.” It wasn’t my job to decide if my son wanted to continue jumping.

Do you feel stress and nerves now watching the competitions in which Daniel is taking part?

– Of course, my heart is always pounding like crazy. (laughter)

Daniel Andre Tande with his mother / /Trude Tande/ /private archive

Daniel Andre Tande wins the medal of the World Ski Flying Championships/ /AFP

Daniel Andre Tande/ /Mark Dybas/ /Reporter