Gunde Svan was the skier who always went his own way.
Now the icon Björn Dählie tells honestly about what it was really like to be a rival with the Swede during his career.
– It was no nonsense, says the Norwegian.
Gunde Svan was a super talent as a teenager, and it wasn’t long before he was suddenly able to compete with the world’s best skiers. Today, Svan is one of our greatest athletes of all time, with four Olympic golds, seven World Cup golds and a whopping 30 wins in the World Cup.
Incredible career
He managed most things, and won everything there was to win, despite the fact that his career only lasted until he was 29 years old. Today, Svan is still one of our most popular profiles, but when he broke through, many had difficulty understanding him. Svan was a pioneer, someone who took exercise and nutrition more seriously than anyone else had done before.
Svan made a name for himself as a perfectionist, someone who didn’t skimp on anything. And it also cost him relations with his rivals during the many World Cup competitions. In the SVT documentary “Gunde Svan – the skier”, Jacob Hård talks to several of Svan’s old rivals. It was not unusual for Norwegians and Swedes to get along, and even have a good time with each other, but that was not the case with Svan.
Dählie’s honest words
The documentary features, among others, the Norwegian icon Björn Dählie, with eight (!) Olympic gold medals and 17 World Cup medals during his career. And he is honest about what it was like to have Gunde Svan as a competitor.
– He ate oatmeal and didn’t talk to anyone. If someone smoked in the same room as him, then it went out. He was never out in the evenings. I did not feel that he ever spoke to any of his competitors, says Dählie.
He continues:
– He might have greeted Vegard (Ulvang, Norwegian iconic skier), but he didn’t have time for nonsense. He trained, he slept, and he ate.
Several former rivals testify that the relationship with the other Swedish riders than with Gunde. And Svan himself is honest that this was the case.
– What could I offer there? Or what could I get there? From putting energy into creating a friendship… Well, I still don’t know what the payoff could really be, says Svan in the documentary.
Now things went well for Svan anyway. He became one of our greatest, and today he is known as one of the nicest and most charismatic TV personalities we have.
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