Leif Nordgren entered the 2022 Winter Olympics as a two-time Olympian and will leave as a three-time Olympian and first-time dad.
Nordgren's wife, Caitlin Napoleoni, meteorologist for WPTZ/NBC5 in Burlington, Vermont, gave birth to their daughter the day before the American biathlete started his competition.
Technology fortunately allowed Nordgren to be present, albeit virtually, for the birth of their child, but it didn't prevent the Colorado-born Olympian from getting emotional when he was shown a video of his wife and daughter back home.
I was FaceTiming my wife a couple of times in the night and when she started the last stage of labor we got on the call and it was pretty quick, about 30 minutes or so." "I was on the phone the whole time, video chat. It was a pretty cool thing to see, being on the other side of the world.
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Fatherhood also made it difficult for Nordgren to stay even keel during an adrenaline-filled race that demands calm and cool under pressure.
Nordgren finished 87th in the men's individual after posting 66th and 82nd-place runs in 2018 and 2014, respectively. Sprint and pursuit have been better events for him.
"It was actually really hard to be honest. I was thinking about my family during the warm-up and it brought some tears to my eyes. Unfortunately didn't produce a good result on the race today but I think it's a win no matter what for the home life."
