Ingemar Stenmark is one of our greatest sporting heroes of all time.
One who followed him closely was the television legend Christer Ulfbåge.
Now he admits the truth about the high-profile spat with the Alpine icon.
Everyone knows very well Christer Ulfbåge. One of the really big icons of Swedish TV sports and became a real viewer favorite in both Sportnytt and Lilla Sportspegeln. In addition, he has commented on thousands upon thousands of sporting moments for over 40 years.
Ulfbåge’s television career
He started as a gym teacher once upon a time and would slip into radio during the 70s. Then Ulfbåge, with that characteristic voice, moved to television in the 80s where he remained for the rest of his long career.
The article continues below.
But in 1972, the television profile would make the acquaintance of a new sports star when the then head of Radiosport Bo Gentzel called and asked:
– Do you know who Ingemar Stenmark is!?
Quarrel with Stenmark
Ulfbåge knew very well who Ingemar Stenmark where and he would closely guard the alpine legend for many years to come.
– They started broadcasting the 1973/1974 season and I commented on 95 percent of his competitions. I rode with him all over the world and was with him until 1980 when he won his two Olympic golds. It was really big, says Christer Ulfbåge in an interview with Aftonbladet from 2012.
READ MORE: Norwegian shock after new photos of Ingemar Stenmark – Norwegians can’t believe their eyes: “The old man”
The two strong profiles would also end up in each other’s hoods and fights were not unusual during the competitions when “Stenis” had a bad riding day.
– It worked well. We had a deal, he always came up to the radio booth after his rides. But we had some controversies too. One time I pushed him pretty hard, I think it was in Switzerland and he had gone out three or four times in a row. I asked him to explain what was wrong, and then he just said “go for it yourself, and you’ll see how damn easy it is”, says Ulfbåge in the interview.
The TV icon also worked a lot with another difficult personality i Thomas Wassbergnow he has to give the answer about who was the trickiest of the skiing giants.
– No one was difficult. Stenmark always stood up but there were those who didn’t think he said anything, but he did, he just said it in a little fewer words than everyone else. Wassberg grunted sometimes, but he was just like that, says Christer Ulfbåge to the evening newspaper.
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