PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Jan-Ove Waldner is one of Swedish sports’ great giants.
But even he has had his own role models in the sport as a young man.
When JO reveals his big idol, he chooses one of our biggest heroes ever.
There really is only one Jan-Ove Waldner. The cocky attitude, clear star shine and god-given ball talent are rare in Swedish sports.
The ball genius JO
The Swedish world star really dominated table tennis for many, many years and became known as the one who stopped the Chinese dynasty in the sport. After that, he can barely walk the streets of China and has been given the powerful nicknames “Old Wa” and “The Evergreen Tree”.
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JO can boast an incredible track record after his successful career spanning several decades. The Bollgeniet has won Olympic gold, six World Cup gold, eleven European Championship gold and the World Cup twice.
READ MORE: The SVT profile’s cocky promise – then realizes its big mistake when JO Waldner enters: “No no no no”
Waldner’s idol
The Swede is considered one of the world’s best table tennis players of all time. But he was also a keen tennis talent in his younger days and played until the age of 15.
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If you ask Waldner himself, he probably could have been as successful in tennis as in table tennis.
– I think so, among the best in the world without taking it in. On some basis I might have become world number one. My serve is decent, I have an eye for the ball and have played a lot of tennis, he admitted in an interview with Expressen in 1995.
READ MORE: Here, ten Chinese amateurs line up – and get a lesson in Swedish ball sense from the genius JO Waldner
In the same interview, JO also revealed who was his great role model growing up. Then he chooses a favorite player in table tennis and also one of Swedish sports’ greatest ever.
– My idols as a youngster were Björn Borg in tennis and the Hungarian Tibor Klampar in table tennis, for his delicious playing style, Jan-Ove Waldner said in the old interview.
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