Sweden at the 2012 Olympics: the lowdown
Published: 25 Jul 12 17:28 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/42234/20120725/
As Sweden prepares for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, The Local's Salomon Rogberg asks some of the country's top sports journalists what fans can expect from its athletes.
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“Sweden’s chances are slim. It won’t be their best year, but they might get a few medals,” Jacob Hård, a sports commentator with Sveriges Television, told The Local.
And Lasse Persson, a commentator at the national broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR) isn't holding his breath either.
“It’s hard to say what our medal chances are. We have a tendency to be over-confident and think we’ll win a lot of medals, but usually this is not the case. There are always surprises,” Persson told The Local.
The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOC) however is more upbeat about Sweden's chances, predicting a haul of at least five medals, beating the success achieved in Beijing in 2008.
“We will do better than we did in Beijing. That’s our motto,” Björn Folin SOC press officer, told The Local.
Visit our gallery for the lowdown on Swedish medal hopefuls by Hård and Persson.
The games are set to stretch over seventeen days, although football fans should take note that the competition starts already today, Wednesday.
Moreover, despite gloomy forecasts it can be comforting to be reminded that Sweden has done pretty well overall since the inaugural Olympic Games in Greece in 1896.
In fact Sweden occupies sixth place in the unofficial rankings, according to the SOC, and by 2004 had won 570 of the 12,200 medals awarded since the first games.
Salomon Rogberg
External links:
- Entire Olympics schedule »
- Jacob Hård will be this year’s anchor together with Ebba von Sydow on Sveriges Television (SVT). »
- National broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR) »
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
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