Gunde Svan reveals his great childhood idol – one of Swedish sports’ greatest heroes ever: “I took after him”

He is one of our biggest skiing heroes of all time.
Now Gunde Svan reveals his great childhood idol.
– He was my big idol when I was growing up, admits Gunde in an interview.

When you talk about legendary skiers from Sweden, it’s a given name that always pops up. A man who could always “fight, fight” and never give up on the ski slopes.

Svan’s fine career

We are of course talking about the iconic cross-country skier Gunde Swan. He had a truly unique winning streak on the ski slopes and amassed a track record that few others can match.

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Svan won four Olympic golds, seven WC golds, 22 SM golds, a total of five World Cups and received prestigious awards such as the Bragdguldet, the Jerring prize, the Victoria scholarship and the Holmenkollen medal. After the successful skiing career, Gunde has moved on and become one of our most popular TV personalities.

Gunde’s great idol

But he too had a great idol as a child, a Swedish sports hero whom he really looked up to and tried to learn from. Gunde from small Dala-Järna had the Swedish skiing icon and the pride of Dalarna Sixten Jernberg as his favorite.
– He was my big idol when I was growing up, I read about him and there were things I imitated. Not least I was impressed by how he ran in boots on bogs to get the right strength. But I didn’t take after everything. The Sixten could almost punish himself in training when he couldn’t quite take it, and in sheer stubbornness drove an extra hour. I didn’t, says Svan in an interview with the website Sport i Dalarna.

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When Gunde was a little boy, he also got to meet his big idol, who passed away in 2012.
– I would buy plastic skis from Sixten. But then he replied: “You are too small and light. You must not have any plastic skis. But in the end I had to buy the plastic skis anyway. I still have them…, says Svan.

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