There are some names you hear all the time. And then there are names you almost never hear. Kaitesi is one of those names for me. This summer, my husband and I were watching the European Championships on television when I heard it.
“Kaitesi.”
I looked at the screen. and there she was, running the 400 metres for Norway. It immediately caught my attention because, well, it is my name too. So naturally, I wanted to know who she was.
Tell me a little bit about yourself?
My name Kaitesi Ertzgaard - a Ugandan-Norwegian 400m sprinter living in Norway, competing at the highest levels of athletics, with a life that stretches far beyond the track.
My name reflects both sides of my identity. I have a Ugandan first name and a Norwegian last name, and both of my parents have Ugandan and Norwegian heritage. I grew up with a strong connection to both sides of my identity and feel very fortunate to have grown up with two cultures that I value.
I have always been interested in incorporating both into my life rather than feeling that I have to choose between them. For me, they are not competing identities. They are both part of who I am.
Tell me about growing up in a Ugandan-Norwegian family.
Being of mixed heritage in Norway can be challenging, particularly as a Black woman and a cultural minority. The Ugandan diaspora is relatively small, so there weren't necessarily many people around me who shared that particular background. I was fortunate to grow up in a very multicultural area, but I still experienced what it meant to sometimes feel as though I was between different worlds.
Over time, I chose to embrace both cultures as part of my identity rather than seeing them as something I had to separate.
What role does Uganda play in your life?
Uganda is very much part of my everyday life. I was raised with African music, Ugandan food, a deep respect for elders and a very strong emphasis on family.
I'm also fortunate to travel to Uganda regularly. Being there reconnects me with a part of myself that is impossible to separate from who I am.
How did athletics first become part of your life?
Athletics has become something deeply connected to my family. My younger sister is also a 400-metre runner, so sport isn't simply something I do on my own. It's something we share. There is something very special about sharing so much of your life with a sibling.
The results on the track will always come second to the relationships we have when we leave the track. I've been unfortunate to have a lot of injuries, and seeing my sister progress while I was unable to do the thing that had defined so much of my life changed my perspective on sport.
It made me realise that, ultimately, my relationship with my family matters more to me than any result on the track. That is perhaps one of the biggest lessons athletics has given me.
What were your parents like when you were growing up?
Both of my parents work in nontraditional fields. My father is a retired athlete who now works administratively within sport and is also my coach. My mother has worked in the cultural sector, including acting, singing and event coordination.
From my mother, I inherited my outgoing, curious and creative side. I love singing, travelling, meeting new people and exploring both my own and other cultures. I also enjoy challenging myself creatively through social media, music and film whenever I get the opportunity.
From my father, I learned discipline, goal-setting and the value of consistently working towards something. Those characteristics have definitely shaped my personality and my life achievements.
What is life looking like for you right now?
Today, I am a professional 400-metre runner representing Norway and competing at the highest national and international levels.
I recently competed at my first senior European Championships, and I am qualified for the World Championships in China next year with our relay team. We are also working towards the 2028 Olympics.
Getting to this level has been far from straightforward, though.
What has your journey in athletics been like so far?
A few years ago, during the warm-up for the Diamond League Oslo, I tore a tendon in my foot. The injury took a long time to heal and ultimately required surgery. I spent a period on crutches and had to rebuild my ability to walk, jog and run.
It was one of the hardest periods of my life. The physical pain was difficult, but what affected me most was the feeling of having no control over my own life.
I'm someone who believes that hard work produces results. I like to feel that I can influence my own destiny through the choices I make and the effort I put in.
Sport challenged that belief.
For months, I could work as hard as I possibly could and still not determine when my body would allow me to run. I had to accept that there are things in sport, and in life, that cannot simply be overcome by working harder. Learning to live with that was incredibly difficult for me.
It is actually also the time in my life I am most grateful for.
Being forced to step away from athletics gave me the opportunity to look at my life from the outside. It made me think about what I want from athletics and what actually matters to me.
I came out of that period with a different perspective. I became more conscious of my mental approach to sport and much more appreciative of the privilege of being able to train and compete.
And the results have followed.
This year, I have run more than two seconds faster over 400 metres than I did the previous year and set a new personal best by almost a second.
I have reached a level in Norwegian 400-metre running that I had worked towards for years. I genuinely don't think I would have made it as far as I have if I had never been injured.
Did your experience of injury change the way you looked at your goals?
Definitely.
I spend an enormous amount of time working towards things that may happen in the future. What I am learning now is to appreciate the privilege of being on that journey: being healthy enough to train, having my family around me, continuing my education, travelling, growing in my faith and becoming a better version of myself.
I don't think sport is primarily about achievement. The achievement is the destination. The journey is where most of your life actually happens.
How do you now make decisions about what you want to prioritise in your life?
There is a very established timeline that many women are expected to follow: finish your education, build a career, start a family and move on to the next stage of life. I have chosen a different path. I wasn't raised to view my choices as a sacrifice. Sacrifice implies that you are giving something up unwillingly for something else.
My choices are about making strategic priorities towards what I want to achieve. I have chosen what matters most to me at this stage of my life, and I accept that choices have consequences.
Education is very important to me. I have a bachelor's degree in Development Studies, with a major in Political Science, and I am currently pursuing a master's degree in International Development, focusing on economic development through market-based investments in sub-Saharan Africa.
I've also lived and worked at the Norwegian Embassy in Uganda and lived abroad on several occasions, including completing an internship in Washington, D.C. These experiences have allowed me to explore interests beyond athletics and have given me another area in which I want to continue learning and contributing.
What else is important to you outside of athletics?
For me, the goal isn't to prove that I can do everything. It's to build a life where the different parts of who I am can coexist.
I cook, play piano, learn a little French, travel, spend time with friends and family, learn, make mistakes, laugh, cry and experience everything in between. Those parts of my life matter too.
What would you like young girls to see when they look at your journey?
I want younger girls to know that they can have different passions and pursue more than one ambition. You can make your own path and you don't have to reduce yourself to one identity.
Growing up, I didn't see many role models who looked like me represented in television, film or children's books. Thankfully, that is changing, and I would like to contribute to that progress through my own endeavours.
If a young Black girl with interests in sport, education and international development can look at my life and think, “Maybe I can do that with my interests too,” that would mean the world to me.
Who did you look up to when you were younger?
In some ways, I had to create that role model for myself.
I didn't know any athletes of colour who combined sports with studies, but I am thankful if I can lead the way for someone else. I hope they see that you don't have to choose one identity or one ambition. You can be interested in sport and education. You can care about international development and still love music. You can travel, learn languages, cook, create, spend time with your family and have faith.
You don't have to make yourself smaller to fit into one category. I am a faith-driven woman and fortunate to have God as a constant part of my life, both in good and bad times.
There is a principle I try to live by where God is a big help. When something scares me, or my instinct tells me that I don't want to do something because it feels unfamiliar or uncomfortable, I tell myself that is exactly why I should do it.
I believe growth requires leaving your comfort zone and being willing to enter situations where you do not already know the outcome.
What would you like the next few years to look like?
I want to keep growing and becoming a better version of myself while allowing all the different parts of my life to coexist. There are obviously goals in athletics. We are working towards the 2028 Olympics, and there is a lot I want to achieve on the track.
But I also want to continue my education, explore my interests in international development, stay connected to my family and my cultures, grow in my faith, travel, learn and keep discovering what is possible.
Ultimately, I want to build a life that feels like mine. One where I don't have to choose between the different parts of who I am.
*Images: Photography by Tonje Lien Wold and Kaitesi Ertzgaard
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