Therese Johaug is not having an easy year, but at least her private life seems to be on track.
The World and Olympic champion just made a property purchase that has every sign of being a potential family nest. While the house itself is relatively modest affair of five rooms/ 264m², it is located in one of the Norwegian capital’s most affluent neighborhoods and offers majestic views over Oslo and the fjord ( look at the photo above from the real estate company Privatmegleren website)
Rather more importantly for the Olympic and 7 times World champion, it is literally a five minute drive to/fro the Holmenkollen Ski Stadium, arguably the world’s most important ski training & competition facility.
The ideal house did not come cheap – DN.no reports that closing price was NOK 18.8 million ( roughly EUR 2 mln.) , NOK 1.8 million higher than what it was initially listed for – suggesting a bit of a bidding war between prospective buyers ( although we have hard time imagining any Norwegian willing to bid against a national sporting hero and one of the most popular people in the country).
A national hero who also happens to be the richest skier ever while still competing – with estimated fortune of some NOK 37 million or EUR 4 mln. as per last year.
What about the rest of the skiing elite? What do they have to show for countless hours of training and collection of gold medals?
If you happen to live in house with your brother – and he brings a girlfriend to live under the same roof – then what do you do? Well, if your name is Petter Northug Jr. , you go and by another one, of course. Preferably, the one that reflects your status – we’re not totally sure what a median real estate price is Trondheim was in 2014, but Petter paid NOK 6.8 million for a newly built full-detached of 224m².
“I felt like a third wheel on a wagon – explained Northug to Netavissen.no back then. – With Tomas and Karina in the house, I felt pushed out of my own home!”
The most talked about – perhaps, because it’s heavily promoted on social media by its happy owner and equally happy architects/construction firm – is the ‘Wenghuset’ – naturally, a house that belongs to a Norwegian skiing star Heidi Weng. Wenghuset is not simply a house – it claims to be a new word in house-building industry:” – Norway’s first “My Comfort House”, – or so it declares on a personal site of the project ( yes, it does have its own website -and a rather sophisticated one for that)
Weng ( who still distantly trails Johaug in earnings, despite a successful season) wanted a modern and maintenance-friendly building. And a quiet one – a 25 year old World Cup winner, who is a notoriously light sleeper, says she absolutely needs top noise insulation.
Swedish couple of Anna Haag and Emil Jönsson also make this list of spectacular real estate owned by skiers. Unlike their Norwegian neighbors, they did not go after super amenities or prime locations – although nobody would say they chose a modest neighborhood. Their choice of real estate, however, was dictated by the sport they practice:
In preparation for the Sochi Olympics, the Swedes were looking to settle at a place, located at similar altitude to the Russian resort i.e. quite high in the mountains– so the body learns to adopt to the relative lack of oxygen. So in 2011 Anna and Emil bought an apartment in the town of Davos, Switzerland, located at 1560m above sea level.
Some Swedish newspaper speculated at the time that the decision had more to do with lower Swiss taxes , than altitude adaptation. It’s unknown what Haag and Jönsson won in taxes, but their Olympics were quite a success: Haag became an Olympic Champion in a relay while Jönsson took two bronze medals in sprints. Location, location, location as they say.
Photo courtesy of: Norgehus.no, Privatmegleren.no
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