Ingemar Stenmark grew up and became the foremost alpine star of all time.
But at a young age it was other sports that attracted.
And maybe it played a bigger role than anyone could have guessed.
Big, bigger, Ingemar Stenmark. The Swedish icon is truly a legend in alpine skiing, and when Mikaela Shiffrin recently broke his record for number of World Cup victories, she was still clear about her opinion. Shiffrin immediately stated that Ingemar is the greatest, regardless of how many wins she happens to have.
Great talent
And there is some truth in that. Although there are skaters who won more medals, and now also wins in the World Cup, there was no one who dominated like Ingemar did. He revolutionized the sport, winning in ways no one else had before, and by margins no one had seen before. Stenmark is one of Sweden’s greatest athletes of all time, and perhaps it was a certain way of training as a child that was the basis for that.
Ingemar Stenmark was already a talent as a child, but skiing was far from the only thing he did. Stenmark played both ice hockey and soccer, and often it was the goalie role that Stenmark filled then. But it was also a completely different sport that Stenis put a lot of time and energy into.
READ MORE: The superstar reveals Ingemar Stenmark’s unknown gesture – which made her drop her chin: “He doesn’t understand who he is!”
“Completely according to the instruction manual”
Ingemar Stenmark’s gymnastics teacher at a young age, Stig-Ove Gustavsson, has revealed that Stenmark trained a lot in wrestling for several years.
– Ingemar had a clean and nice swing of the neck, completely according to the instruction book, he has said.
And maybe that wasn’t quite the point, anyway.
In connection with a report on Stenmark in 1980, Aftonbladet highlighted wrestling as a possible factor in all successes. Balance is extremely important in alpine skiing, and given the wrestling, Stenmark can already have a real advantage over the competition at a young age.
“It was, of course, not unimportant,” the newspaper wrote.
READ MORE: When Borg and Stenmark were too(!) dominant – and forced Bragdjuryn to a unique decision: “Thought it was impossible”