Tony Rickardsson was awarded the Bragdguldet.
Then he was forced to pay – after a crazy promise.
– The medal was really expensive for me, he said.
Ove Fundin had received the Bragdguldet in 1961. Since then, Swedish speedway had been waiting for the next rider to be awarded the Bragdguldet. In 1999, you didn’t have to wait any longer. By then Tony Rickardsson had won the Bragdguldet – and it became an expensive story for him.
Finally got to win
Rickardsson is Sweden’s greatest of all time, and one of the very greatest in sport of all time. He charmed the whole of sports Sweden with his cheeky riding, and his lovely personality, which went right through the window every time he was seen. He also had a winner’s skull beyond the ordinary, and that took him very, very far.
Already at the age of 24, he won his first individual WC gold, and after that the medals just kept coming. In 2005 he won the Jerring Prize – but already six years earlier he was awarded one of Swedish sports’ absolute finest prizes: the Bragdguldet. He won it for fighting back after a tough period, and the icing on the cake was the third individual World Cup gold. The whole of Motor Sweden cheered, and rightfully so.
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Had to pay
It was a great recognition for speedway in Sweden, and Tony Rickardsson was shocked. But when he met the media for the first time after the announcement, he was also divided. He told me that the medal would cost him – a lot.
– I was actually not prepared for this. The medal will be really expensive for me, he told Svenska Dagbladet.
Uncomprehending reporters asked what he really meant, it was not what was expected. But then came the explanation – which really was as nice as it gets.
– I bet lots of friends that it wouldn’t be me this year either. Now it’s just a matter of paying. But it’s those kinds of things that make you cry, he said.
Talk about taking just about everything with a heel kick. Tony Rickardsson – what a legend!
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