PHOTO: SVT
We probably all saw this day coming.
But they probably didn’t think it would happen this way.
Thanks for this time in “Master of Masters”, Tony Rickardsson!
This is a comment. The opinions are the writer’s own.
He is one of our most popular athletes of all time and Tony Rickardsson quickly became a real viewer favorite in SVT’s acclaimed TV program “Mästarnas mästare”. Not only with the millions of Swedes at home on the TV sofa, but also the other participants have spoken warmly of “Pappa Tony”.
Tony the cheerleader
The 53-year-old has been described as the “spreader of joy” during the course of the program and his warm personality has really gone right through the TV screen. Rickardsson has shown everyone once again what a nice and funny person he is and at the dinners he has kept a box with his many stories from life as a speedway driver.
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But at the competitions, Tony Rickardsson hasn’t actually had a single sigh. The other participants have been far too good and above all far too young for an old fox who ended his sports career in 2006.
The giant Rickardsson
The only thing that Tony has had control over has been the night duel, where he has been a giant. A cobra to fear. Which both Johanna Ahlm and Anna Wijk have experienced up close.
But tonight it was the drawing king Joel Lundqvist who stood on the other side of the candlesticks.
– I’m nervous. You’re tense. Getting to meet Tony feels very special, a very great athlete that I myself followed growing up. It’s great to meet him, Joel admits in SVT before the drama starts.
Leaving the “Masters”
Oh, how exciting it will be! When Tony wins the first round comfortably and then manages to get the wrong rod when Joel equalizes to 1-1. When the night duel then goes to “sudden death”, it is possible to take on the nervousness.
“You hardly dare to blink,” says a clearly shaken Joel.
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It then hurts the heart when everything is decided and it is clear that Tony Rickardsson is forced to leave the Champions League in the worst possible way.
– I thought it would be impossible to take Tony in a night duel, says a relieved Joel Lundqvist.
– I must have underestimated the resistance. I understood that it would be tough, but I still thought I would keep up a little better. But these guys were absolutely brutally good, so I tried to make this night duel mine. It’s been really, really fun to be here, says Tony Rickardsson when he gets to sum up his contribution to the program.
READ MORE: Tony Rickardsson says what everyone thinks after Jimmy Samuelsson’s tears in the Master of Masters: “I’m completely shocked”
TV viewers are now left with a lump in their stomach because of the host’s take Mike Leijnegard and SVT a whole 15 years to succeed in persuading the speedway icon to be part of the Master of Masters. And this year’s season won’t be the same without Rickardsson in the house or at the dinner table, but the big question is whether it will be another 15 years before we see Tony in a TV show again.
In any case, it makes me very worried.
– It has been an incredibly great honor to be with you. Thank you Tony!, says the SVT presenter, and these are words that everyone can really agree with.
What do you think of tonight’s episode of Master of Masters? Share the article and have your say!
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