With Gunde Svan’s help, five celebrities managed to get through the Vasaloppet in live broadcast.
Now the ski icon is praised for its patience and commitment.
– It feels great that the purpose must live on: just that nothing is impossible, he says.
Ski legend Gunde Svan took on Sunday’s Vasalopp along with five celebrities who have never done anything like it before – and it was a success. In SVT’s investment “Against all odds”, Gunde Svan coached the relay group through the 90 kilometer long run in live broadcast.
– They had to surpass themselves all. It was great that they managed it, because it was really against all odds, says Gunde Svan to TV4 News.
Tops and valleys
The five participants – Samir Badran, Kaeli Abdi, Filip Dikmen, Linda Pira and Junior Lerin – stood on a couple of skis for the first time a year ago and started training under Gunde Svan’s leadership. He admits that there have been both peaks and valleys in the preparations.
– They did not really understand what it means to go the Vasaloppet. But it got better which was lucky, otherwise it would not have gone, he says.
Despite poor ground, a cracked rod and a number of cases, the participants fought their way throughout the race, and according to Gunde Svan, there was not much more to give when they reached the goal in Mora.
– There was not much more to pick up from any of them afterwards, we got everything out and a little more of them.
“An impossible mission”
Afterwards, he was praised for his efforts and patience by both the audience and the participants themselves. Filip Dikmen expressed, among other things, his joy and gratitude:
“Can all give a big and warm applause to The One and Only Gunde Svan,” he said after the race.
Gunde Svan says that the positive reactions have been an unexpected bonus.
– It’s great fun, I hadn’t thought of that before I would get such a nice response. I did it most precisely because it would be an impossible assignment.
Now he celebrates by recovering time with the family and especially the grandchildren he stayed away from the week before the race because he went into quarantine.