– He has no role here, claims Elise Murbræck, president of the Norwegian Bodybuilding and Fitness Association (NBFF).

He was in Santa Susanna outside Barcelona where 22 athletes of the Norwegian national team in bodybuilding and fitness competed with the rest of Europe’s elite.

According to the president, the support apparatus consists of two national team coaches, but photos and videos show that a controversial figure also exists and helps the Norwegian athlete, namely the man NRK revealed last fall to be convicted of producing and selling steroids.

The man was wearing the clothes of the Norwegian national team, and he helped backstage before the athletes took the stage.

– He’s not backstage, replied Murbræck.

– How do you explain the picture in which he helps other athletes before the competition?

– Norwegians support each other. But he has no role in the national team, was the president’s response.

Moments later, he corrected himself and admitted that he was actually backstage, and confirmed this by the fact that supporters had the opportunity to go there too.

– We have no basis for denying it when the other has access, the message reads.

Writing himself that he is a coach

The man in his 50s had coached the national team at the 2019 international championships, something NRK faced with last fall.

Then President Murbræck replied that he was not aware of the extent to which the man had been punished, but admitted that there had been a backlash following the men’s national team assignment.

– I wish he was more open, he told NRK.

The ruling from 2016 said the man was dealing with a doping substance that would have been enough for non-stop consumption for about 94 years.

Now he is in place during another international championship, but the president stubbornly claims that he is only there as a person. He had a relationship with someone at a Norwegian travel party.

– What does the association think about the fact that it seems that the outside world is part of the national team?

– He has no duty here, so that’s what we’re connecting, Murbræck replied.

The man himself wrote on his social platform that he was a coach, and a Norwegian European Championship athlete described the man as a “backstage crew”.

NRK has been in contact with the man in question, but he would not comment.

– Eso unbelievable

– It seems they were deliberately trying to cover up that he was there, is the interpretation of Jan Petter Saltvedt.

The sports commentator was clear on what signal he was sending that the penalized man was walking in the Norwegian national team attire backstage during the European Championships.

– This is a very discouraging signal that they have their own way of seeing reality. It’s a shame for those who are innocent and want to exercise, he believes.

Saltvedt points out that the association has reputational challenges, and therefore they should be extra concerned about how they are perceived by innocent athletes, coaches and other Norwegian sports – who are a bit undecided about the activities of the NBFF.

– This is so unbelievable. Frankly, it shows that they don’t care. This disrupts Norwegian association and sport, he concluded.

President Murbræck responded to the criticism as follows:

– He had served his sentence and was a private individual, and he could not deny it. He’s not a coach and he’s not in the league.

Norwegian Anti-Doping (ADN) has not yet responded to NRK’s ​​inquiry. Last fall, they were clear that the onus lay with the association:

– In general, we believe that associations themselves should be held accountable for the people they associate with, and who are the key people and role models in this environment, said Halvor Byfuglien later.