Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT, Bildbyrån
Several of Sweden’s biggest and most successful athletes gathered at the Sports Gala on Monday evening.
One of them was Anja Pärson, who really reacted to a question that Sportbladet asked her in the media zone.
Hundreds of Swedish sports stars and other famous profiles gathered inside the Strawberry Arena to pay tribute to the country’s top athletes and their achievements in 2024. Unsurprisingly, it was Armand Duplantis (Male Athlete of the Year, Performance of the Year and Achievement Gold), Sarah Sjostrom (Female Athlete of the Year) and Truls Möregårdh (Jerring prize) that dominated the Sports Gala.
Anja Pärson was at the Sports Gala
A prominent athlete who remarkably has never been awarded Radiosport’s Jerring Prize is the former alpine skier Anja Pärson43. Now she has won six Olympic medals, 13 World Cup medals and double Bragdguld in 2006 and 2007 – so no pity for her for that matter.
READ MORE: Truls Möregårdh deserves the Jerring Prize more than Armand Duplantis
She was invited to the gala as usual and she attended with her wife Filippa Rådin52. Before the televised gala, the guests pass the red carpet, where the journalists are also ready to ask their questions. She received a question from Sportbladet that really made her react strongly.
Pärson roars at the Fis chairman
It was all about what she likes Johan Eliasch’s (President of the International Skiing and Snowboarding Federation) statement on Russian athletes. He has recently said this to Radiosporten, regarding Russian and Belarusian athletes competing under a neutral flag during the Paris Olympics last summer:
– It worked very well with Belarusian and Russian athletes. It is important to be neutral in these matters. Without a flag and without a national anthem and no connection to armies, police or the like. The athletes are not responsible for where they were born and they should not be caught.
READ MORE: Armand Duplanti’s new love message with Desiré Inglander
Eliasch, who is also running to become the new president of the IOC (International Olympic Committee), is therefore open to allowing Russian athletes to compete again under a neutral flag. Anja Pärson really does not agree with him on the sensitive issue.
– I feel sorry for the athletes, but Russia should absolutely not be included in the sports platform as long as it continues as it does. Sport is political and unfortunately it will always be so, but the athletes and the people and this ideology and the belief you have in what a human value is should not be included in sport, she tells Sportbladet.
This is a sensitive issue to say the least and people have opinions about it. Anja Pärson really makes her voice heard here.
Share