Sarah Sjöström’s choice before the Olympics has been criticized.
Now she is fighting back.
– I don’t like it when people say that, she says in P1.
Sarah Sjöström is, together with Armand Duplantis, Sweden’s greatest hope for gold when the Olympics are decided in Paris this summer. Sjöström has won nearly 100 medals in international championships since his debut as a 14-year-old, and is now preparing for his third Olympics in his career.
Hits back after the criticism
But ahead of this year’s competitions, Sarah Sjöström has made a different decision. In the past, Sjöström has competed in several distances, and the merit list from previous Olympics includes gold in the 100-meter butterfly, silver in the 200-meter freestyle, bronze in the 100-meter freestyle, and silver in the 50-meter freestyle.
Before the big highlight of the year, Sarah Sjöström has chosen to skip the swimming EC in Belgrade completely – and in addition, this summer she chooses to skip several medal chances and only run one distance: 50 meter freestyle. It has been met with criticism, but now the star is striking back.
– I don’t like it when people say it’s only 50 meters free. There are quite a few athletes who go to championships and run a distance. I’ve had a pretty extreme setup in the Olympics and other championships before. Then it becomes strange when you have to follow me in a branch, she says in P1.
“It’s incredibly unfair”
Sarah Sjöström is also critical of those who say that Sjöström “had bad luck” during previous Olympics, where after all there were four medals.
– I don’t know if I agree with that. There have been small occasions when I have had some setbacks. But I don’t understand why people think it was a bad Olympics. I think that is incredibly unfair to say. The whole has been important to me, not just the Olympics. I have chosen to be good for a long time and during several championships, she says.
Sarah Sjöström is otherwise in great shape, both physically and mentally. In the Sunday interview in P1, she talks about how she learned to completely disconnect negative thoughts in connection with competitions.
– Sometimes I’m hard on myself, sometimes I’m super excited. It will be roughly the same end result every time. That’s why I give a little shit about what’s going on in my head, she says.
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