Gustav Iden has paid a beautiful tribute to his mother after she lost her long and brave battle against cancer on Monday.
The Norwegian IRONMAN World Champion announced the tragic news on his Instagram account as stars of the sport responded with messages of love and support.
Sometimes sport, and medals, and race wins, have very little meaning – and the grim reality that life really is not fair hits brutally home. This is just one such moment, as Gustav so eloquently emphasised.
‘I am one of the luckiest’
He wrote: “Life is unfair, but I am one of the luckiest. I was born to the best parents, in the best country, in the best time to be alive. Even when my mother was diagnosed with cancer two years ago I felt somehow lucky. Lucky because I have had the opportunity to truly love someone enough to feel as sad as I did. Today my mothers luck ran out. Our family was gathered around her as she peacefully passed away after a long, long battle against the cancer.”
Gustav explained how difficult the last two years have been – racing at the highest level around the world while his mother fought even harder battles back in Bergen.
The hardest battles
“I’m not feeling lucky at the moment. It has been really hard to try to live a high performance life and race around the world when the hardest battles have been fought at home. For now I’ll take some time off with the family. Don’t know when I will be back. Elsker deg, Mamma ❤️”
Our thoughts at this awful time are with Gustav and his family.
