Athlete profile: Anita Moen-Guidon

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

For several years cross-country skiing has not been the most important thing in Moen-Guidon's life...that would be her six-year-old daughter, Karoline, who was born in May 1991 ..."I love playing with my daughter and I hate leaving my child alone," says Anita about having to travel during the World Cup season, "especially when I lose"...but child birth did not sidetrack Moen-Guidon from her sports career...less than a year and a half after Karoline was born, Anita competed in some late season World Cup events...two years later, she was one of the strongest performers at the Lillehammer Games...though she did not win an individual medal, she placed in the top ten in all four individual events and finished fourth in the 5 km classic, just three and a half seconds away from a bronze medal...she also helped her Norwegian team to a silver in the 4x5 km relay...she was satisfied with her fourth-place finish in the 5 km -- a result she says it is as big an achievement as her second-place in a World Cup in Oslo and her fifth place last year at the World Championships in Trondheim...Moen-Guidon understands the amount of hard work it takes to stay competitive..."You have to be patient and train hard," says Moen-Guidon who had plenty of work to make up after childbirth. "It takes a long time to get to the top in nordic skiing"...Moen-Guidon and coach Inge Andersen have been working on Anita's skating, though -- like most of the women on the Norwegian team - she remains stronger in the classical discipline...Anita was married to former Swiss alpine skier, Giachem Guidon, following Lillehammer...Karoline speaks German with Giachem and Norwegian with Anita...Anita refuses to spend much time away from her daughter and often trains apart from the rest of the Norwegian team..."I met with our national training team trainers so it's okay," she says. "I miss the other girls a little. But I can go to team training camps when I want"...she is a hard-worker and actually trained until her third trimester...she stopped skiing a month before Karoline's birth and was still on the bicycle two weeks before entering the hospital..."You have to look at what your body is saying," she says. "You must always know what's good and not good. We have control of our body. We can learn and know"...Moen-Guidon obviously still has control of her cross-country skiing...her inspired fifth place finish in Trondheim came in front of home country fans on a course she calls one of her favorites...Anita entered her first cross-country competition when she was just three years old and considered Oddvar Bra, a 1980 Olympics silver medalist, her skiing hero...as for what Anita has planned following her cross-country career, "I have many dreams but who knows what will happen! Why not more children," she says with a laugh... Anita likes to read and cook in her free time...she speaks good English and German...