Mumbai, Sept. 12 -- Erlend Slokvik, sports director of the Norwegian athletics association, is a former ski-orienteering World Championships medallist. Athletics is the fourth sport he has managed as head coach or sports director in Norway, and he brings up a couple of stats to paint its strides. Down in the grassroots, TINEstafetten, the world's biggest single-day youth relay event for students between class 6 and 9 held in schools across the country, is unique to Norway. "This year, we had over 1,00,000 children running," Slokvik said. At the top among the elite, across all major athletics events from the Olympics of Tokyo in 2021 to Paris in 2024 (including World Championships and European Championships), Norway had 11 athletes bring home medals. "35 medals, 20 gold," Slokvik said. The two ends of this arc reflect the growth of athletics in a country of about 55 lakh people and the land of winter sports. And at its heart lies the rise of athletics stars that have given Norway champions to celebrate outside of winter sports, football, chess and golf. The defending world champion 5000m runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen and 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm have not only brought in a chunk of those 35 medals as multiple-time Olympic and Worlds medallists, they've also been integral to Norway signing off as the sixth best athletics nation at the Paris Games (from 10th in Tokyo) and with their highest tally (4) at the 2023 Budapest Worlds. "They have, in a way, broken the legend that it was impossible," Slokvik told HT. "Because 10 years ago, people thought it was impossible for a Norwegian to be at a top level. With them showing it is possible, more people now have that belief and also work harder." Now Norway also has a 23-year-old Olympic champion in decathlon (Markus Rooth) and another of their own (Narve Gilje Nordas) join Ingebrigtsen on the 1500m podium at the Budapest Worlds. "The development in the last 6-7 years has been extremely good," Ingebrigtsen said on a virtual media call to a query from HT. "It's ideal to have some good results and good athletes for kids to look up to, which leads to recruitment and better experience and expertise. And then it's about whether you can develop some talents and, kind of, duplicate it. That is the most difficult thing." That duplication is something India, of world champion Neeraj Chopra and his javelin boom, is hoping to crack. "If you can do that over time, you can prove to the people who go into this sport that this is something we know and have the experience. And we can show you that if you try hard, believe in yourself, you can achieve your goals," said Ingebrigtsen. Like Ingebrigtsen and Warholm showed in Norway. The duo's stardom shines as bright as some of the country's sparkling best in sports. "Like Magnus (Carlsen), they are big heroes," Slokvik said. "It's also important how they are as people. They share, are open, have their feet to the ground." Slokvik is also frank about whether Ingebrigtsen and Warholm are a freak of nature or a product of Norway's system. "We try to help them, and build a better system," he said. "But they are a product of themselves and the local community they come from." That local community across Norway is brimming with clubs which forms the foundation of the country's overall push in Olympic sports. The athletics federation has 7,000 registered athletes. No kid is taken into the system until 18, and no emphasis placed on results. "It doesn't matter to us if you are great at 14-15," said Slokvik. "In other countries, there's maybe more pressure at that young age." Norway's junior team has 110 athletes from age 18-22. Along with the athletes, their coaches too are invited to training camps to share "what it is that needs to be done to get to the top level", said Slokvik. "If we have 10 talented athletes at 18-19, quite many of them get to a good senior level," he added. "It's because of the model that we have - we work in small groups and closely together." The likes of Ingebrigtsen, Warholm and Rooth train on their own, yet largely in Norway. In Oslo, which also houses Norway's high-performance centre Olympiatoppen, one could spot Warholm and Rooth training, as also a bunch of throwers. "We try to gather those that are doing the same things," said Slokvik. Other than heading out for high-altitude training or during winters, athletes are mainly training at home "with Norwegians and their groups". It's the coaches who are often sent abroad for seminars. All Norwegian athletes part of the national team, except the juniors, get financial support from the federation. So do their coaches. From this system the likes of Ingebrigtsen and Warholm, even though products of their own, have surged to world-beating level. "When I started the job 6.5 years ago," said Slokvik, "I wouldn't have thought that Norway will have so many top athletes."...