PHOTO: Hugo Mattsson, Swedish Orienteering Association
They are two of our most successful athletes in Sweden.
Now the duo has also competed against each other in a historic duel.
And the giant Magdalena Forsberg pays tribute to the fantastic Tove Alexandersson to the skies.
One is the great pride of Swedish biathlon with two Olympic bronzes, six World Cup golds and winner of the World Cup six years in a row. The icon Magdalena Forsberg has since appeared in the television programs “Master of Masters”, “Let’s Dance”, “På Spåret” and “Over the Atlantic”.
Alexandersson’s career
The other is one of Swedish sports’ most decorated athletes of all time with his 49(!) gold medals and over 100 medals in four different sports. Tove Alexandersson has reaped enormous success in orienteering, ski orienteering, sky running and ski alpinism.
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Now they have collided in a historic duel over the weekend. At a very well-attended family event in Borlänge, which was arranged by Alexandersson’s home club Stora Tuna OK, the blue and yellow sports heroes met in the sprint and maze orienteering competitions.
Magdalena against Tove
It was also really exciting, where Tove Alexandersson won the sprint event while Magdalena Forsberg took revenge and won the labyrinth.
– I think orienteering is so much fun. If I had had to start my sports career over, I might have tried to become an orienteer. It’s great fun. It is a sport that everyone should discover. It’s so fantastic about orienteering that you can do it at all ages. I have participated when I was younger in some orienteering competitions and what struck me was that here everyone is involved, all generations, together. You have different start times, but you hang out in the finish area and hang out. Orienteering has succeeded in that everyone is involved in the same way and everyone competes in the same competitions, says an extremely happy “Magda”, according to the Swedish Orienteering Association.
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Forsberg has managed to stay in good shape after the active career, even though she doesn’t like to train that much anymore.
– I like to run a little, mostly every day, but not fast. I don’t like to run fast, I don’t really like to sweat anymore. I like to move. But I get the taste of blood in my mouth and it’s not cozy anymore, it was cozy when you were active then, but not now, now it should be nice to run, I think. And that’s what’s so wonderful about orienteering, you don’t have to sprint all the way, right?, she admits in connection with the event.
Forsberg’s tribute
The biathlon legend is also full of admiration for Alexandersson and praises the orienteering queen to the skies.
– Tove, then. You get starstruck when you get to meet Tove. She has been world champion at the same time in several different sports. Any number of WC gold medals and such a humble and nice person. I saw her at the first checkup. Then I didn’t see her anymore. She is incredible. Really, says Magda about her duelist for the weekend.
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Tove Alexandersson is now 32 years old and did her very first orienteering competition as a small, small child. That is why she is so happy that hundreds of children had gathered in Borlänge over the weekend.
– I ran my first mini race when I had just turned one, so I’ve been participating for a while, she says during the event.
– I think that an arrangement like this is excellent precisely to be able to bring in more people who are not just orienteering families and everyone is incredibly welcome to orienteering, even if you are not an orienteering family from the start. So really hope that you will see more and more people who want to start orienteering.
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