Britain seeks Swedish sporting tips
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The BBC paints a heart-warming picture of Sweden’s 10-year rise to be one of the world’s top athletics nations.
In 1996, after a miserable experience hosting the World Championships in Gothenburg the year before, Swedish Athletics was bankrupt. Now, thanks to “amateur enthusiasm” which drives coaches to offer their services for free, Swedish athletes are expecting to bring home more golds than ever from next year’s Olympics.
The reporter, Joe Wilson, seemed to be particularly impressed with the facilities he found in Sätra and Växjö.
“The wooden beams of this huge hangar still smell fresh five years after being built. No-one has vandalised it, it stays open in the snow and it is full. There are at least 300 participants, all apparently under 16, and a host of coaches…
…So on to Vaxjo, a town of around 75,000 with another 15,000 or so in the university campus. It has indoor and outdoor ice hockey arenas, a football pitch, an indoor curling hall, and a huge red barn which contains a full-size artificial football pitch, a running track and Carolina Kluft.”
The real reason for Swedish sporting success may be, paradoxically, that there is little or no tradition of sport in schools. In Britain the school has been the sporting hub for most children. Now that school sport has been eroded with teachers no longer volunteering their services, there is nothing to fall back on.
But Swedish sport is anchored in the community, with parents and volunteer coaches forming the backbone of local clubs. As such, it is driven by people who really care and now find itself in a virtuous circle with stars like Carolina Klüft realising the responsibility they have to inspire the next generation. Swedish sport has a bright future indeed.
