Jan-Ove Waldner turns 58 – and here is his big confession about having children

Today we pay tribute to one of Swedish sports’ greatest.
Jan-Ove Waldner has won everything there is to win.
Now he turns 58 and gives his big confession about his own children.

When you have to rank Sweden’s top sportsmen of all time, three names are usually mentioned before all others. The slalom icon Ingemar Stenmarkthe tennis legend Björn Borg and the table tennis king Jan-Ove Waldner usually always form the podium in Swedish sports history.

Waldner’s career

JO broke through as a 16-year-old and was classified as a child prodigy when he reached the European Championship final in 1982. Since then, many successful years at the ping-pong tables around the world followed and Waldner has won everything there is to win in the sport.

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He is considered one of the world’s best table tennis players and in China his popularity is enormous. Today he turns 58 and it really is appropriate to pay tribute to a truly legendary and incredible sportsman.

JO’s privacy

But alongside the successful career, many people wonder about Waldner’s private life. When he guested on the podcast “Gry & Anders with guests”, JO revealed that he has never had a long-term relationship over the years and what it is like not to be married or have children.
– It is sad for the mother. She is the only one who asks me about it all the time, he said in the interview.
– She talks less about it now, because it’s getting harder and harder.

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Waldner has often thought about having children and believes he would have made a good father.
– I would imagine becoming a father. I like to play with my friends’ children, said JO in the podcast.
– But then you get a little ego when you’ve had such a good time on your own. But he or she would have become great at ping pong.

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