Truls Möregårdh has made it to the quarter-finals in the Olympics – but everything has not gone as he wished.
Now he rages against a detail in the arrangement.
– It is useless, he tells Aftonbladet.
Truls Möregårdh has done what no one thought was possible. He faced the toughest possible opposition in the second round of the Olympic table tennis, in the form of the superior world number one Wang Chuqin. In eight meetings earlier in his career, Möregårdh had lost all eight – and only won a paltry four sets.
The Swede’s criticism
But in the Olympic meeting, Möregårdh was first to four sets, which means that he, in one of Sweden’s biggest Olympic shocks ever, made it to the third round. And from just the speed, he made it, even yesterday, to the quarter-finals. But despite the success, Möregårdh is not completely satisfied. There was a lot of reaction to him being forced to play two games on the same day, which isn’t really fair.
But there is another thing that constantly annoys Möregårdh. Already last week, Swedes testified that the temperature of the buses that take the athletes from the Olympic village to the arena is far too hot. And it hasn’t been fixed.
– It’s so hot. You lose a lot of energy in there, says Möregårdh to Aftonbladet.
“It’s worthless”
Möregårdh believes that the buses lack AC, and as if that were not enough, it also happens that the bus drivers drive incorrectly.
– It is worthless. It’s really heavy actually. 45 minute bus ride to the arena. And sometimes the drivers drive wrong too. There is no AC on the buses and 35 degrees outside, he says.
Truls Möregårdh would have liked to see SOK pay for taxis, especially now that he has done so well, but Jörgen Persson, icon and confederation captain, is pushing back against that.
– No, we dare not take a taxi. It is the bus transport that applies. Because if we get stuck in traffic and don’t make it in time, it’s game over. You have to ride the official lines. Therefore, nothing else is relevant. We take the buses like everyone else!, he says.
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