PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Charlotte Kalla won the Tour de Ski as a 20-year-old in 2008.
When it was to be celebrated, Gunde advised Svan against alcohol.
– That’s how I am, he says to Expressen.
The year 2008 got Charlotte Kalla her real international breakthrough, after she won the Tour de Ski. She became the first Swedish cross-country skier to do so, and received the Jerring Prize the same year for the feat. Kalla was 20 years old at the time.
Svan’s alcohol advice
The victory of the Tour de Ski and the breakthrough was followed by a brilliant career. Kalla won, among other things, three Olympic golds and three WC golds, and there were a total of 37 SM golds. In the World Cup, there were 59 podium places, of which 12 were wins. In the spring of 2022, Kalla announced that she was putting her skis on the shelf, and finished with the SM competitions in Piteå.
Now, just over a year and a half after ending her racing career, Kalla has released the autobiography “Shame on those who give”. There, the 36-year-old has given new details about that Tour de Ski victory.
The article continues after the picture.
Kalla writes in the book that after the win she received advice from the then national team manager and former cross-country skier Gunde Swan. The then 20-year-old was asked to be photographed when she sprayed champagne. Something Svan, who has never drunk alcohol, resisted.
– You have to understand that all the decisions you make now will mean something in the future. Are you in favor of drinking alcohol? You have to take a stand now, said Svan according to Kalla.
Cold strikes back
Kalla writes further in the book:
“Just because he was sober, that shouldn’t have to guide my choices. I thought you could celebrate with champagne when you won something this big. ‘I can probably be in such a picture’, I said”.
For Expressen, Gunde Svan now tells that he does not remember the alcohol advice to Kalla.
– But that’s how I am. That whole year with Charlotte and before the tour I became a bit of an extra dad, I think, he says to the evening newspaper.
The article continues after the picture.
Svan, with an iconic cross-country skiing career behind him, knew even then that the Tour de Ski victory would have a big impact on Kalla’s life and career, and wanted to help her as best he could.
– She had enormous pressure on her, was young and a rookie. It’s easy to get carried away and do things in the euphoria, when you’ve also won, then you don’t really think about anything else. So it’s a conscious choice once you make it. I don’t think she had planned for that champagne, says Svan.
READ MORE: Charlotte Callas maddened at Finland – rages after the behavior towards Therese Johaug: “So unnecessary”
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