Leif Nordgen watches child’s delivery, miles away from Vermont
US biathlete Leif Nordgren watched his wife, Vermont NBC-5 meteorologist Caitlin Napoleoni, give birth to their first child via FaceTime from the Beijing Games the day before his first race, after being apart from her since mid-November.
The original due date for their daughter was February 6, just days after the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the start of Nordgren's third and final Olympic Games.
"That was really cool," 32-year-old Nordgren said of watching the birth of his daughter named Astrid Lynae Nordgren.
"I was FaceTiming my wife a couple of times in the night, and when (Napoleoni) started the last stage of labor we got on the call and it was pretty quick, about 30 minutes or so," Nordgren told NBC. "I was on the phone the whole time, video chat."
Astrid was born a day before he competed in the 20km Individual Biathlon, a race that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.
"I can barely handle how cute this girl is, and I can't wait to get home to meet her!! @caitlinnordgren we did good," he wrote on Instagram on Wednesday alongside a picture of his newborn daughter.
After finishing at 87th place in the 20km Individual Biathlon event, Nordgren received a special video message from his wife and his newborn daughter, Astrid.
"Congratulations on your first race of the Games. Astrid and I are, of course, so proud of you," Napoleoni said. "We are so proud of all the sacrifices you made for our family, even though you've been so far away. We can't wait for you to get home, but of course we can't wait to watch you race for the rest of these Games. We love you so much."
Nordgen then admitted how hard it was really hard to focus on his race after the news of daughter’s arrival which made him really emotional even in the warmups.
"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” he told reporters.
Tags: #WinterOlympics, #biathlete, #sports