Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå | Kenneth Flesjå

COACH KENNETH
(born 10.09.78)

I was born in Stavanger, but grew up at Lura in Sandnes, Norway. I started racing road-bikes when I was 11 years old. My uncle, Arne, was one of the first Norwegians who took part in a World Cup mountain bike race. He was an accomplished road-racer in the 1980s.

I cycled a lot together with my older brother, Frode, and learned a whole lot from him during my first years as a young cycling-enthusiast. Frode became Norwegian champion on-road in 1995, but he also has a medal from the Norwegian Cross Country championships. In other words, I come from a family in which cycling has been very much in focus, and we’ve really enjoyed the sport. I stopped racing after the U23 World Championships in October 2000, largely because of problems with asthma and allergy.

I started my national military service in January 2001 at the military recruit school Harald Hårfagre in Stavanger. In the spring of 2001 I took over the responsibility of coaching Gunn-Rita. My role as trainer, in addition to having full responsibility for massaging, and in addition to being the media contact person, quickly became a full-time job for me. I had my clear ideas about what changes should be made, both to Gunn-Rita’s training schedule and to the complete package of her cycling activities. I had been observing most of it from the sideline since we became a couple in December of 1998, and had a good idea of what my athlete stood for – both strengths and weaknesses.

Sports and physical activity has always fascinated me. My plan was to take further education when I stopped racing bikes after the season of 2000, but this goal had to wait. Gunn-Rita was very low during that period, both physically and psychologically, after the massive pressure before the Olympics in Sydney. We decided to take control over our own training, to start from scratch, and gradually build ourselves up again. Our main focus was to get onto the bike again and experience fun and enjoyment with the sport.

My education, next to the practical element of being a cyclist and a trainer, consists of sports studies and an elite trainer education with Olympiatoppen (Olympiatoppens topptrenerutdanning). Further studies will be resumed after the Olympics in Beijing in 2008.

Achievements as a trainer:

- 18 World Cup victories

- 4 gold in European Championships

- 3 gold in Cross Country World Championships

- 2 gold in Marathon World Championships

As a professional cyclist I was lucky enough to be part of the U-23 national team start in the World Championships in 1997, when Kurt-Asle Arvesen became World Champion. I was also part of the Norwegian national team the following year when we had a Norwegian World Champion in U-23 time trial, Thor Hushovd.