Sport in world

Dinner with Gunde

November 9, 2007 on 8:45 pm | In Sports |

By Torin Koos
Published: Fri Nov 09, 2007 2:00 AM MST

Meeting Gunde Svan was not supposed to happen this way. No, not while pushing a Swedish meatball through a puddle of lingonberry sauce. Maybe a shake of the hand at the prize giving ceremony for the Royal Cup Sprint around the Kings Castle in Stockholm, or at Caf Opera after the World Cup Finale. No, not while eating dinner in Torsby. In a dining hall filled with Swedens national team, Gunde sat down beside coach, teammate, me. Thats when I met the one I spent grade school days daydreaming about, dropping the Russians, the Finns, and Vegard Ulvang at Holmenkollen, Falun, Calgary.

In seconds the ten time Olympic and World Champion gold medalist seamlessly enters in conversation, our conversation. I rely on seamless, the adjective, as a crutch in describing a first time meeting free of pleasantries or lows in dialogue. I wish to explain this better. I cannot. I only remember thinking, Gunde, hes good. Hes got charisma. Hes equal parts humble and confident. Hes got great stories talking rally cars never gets old. Empty dinner plate. Wait a second, howd this happen? Howd I get into this conversation?

With time, themes of conversation change course. I moved away to Torsby at sixteen to attend the ski gymnasium here. The first weeks were hard I remember the nerves of being on my own in Torsby. But it was my choice to come here. I saw this as the perfect place to chase being a ski racer. There wasnt the ski tunnel its kind of incredible, really but Torsby had Swedens only rollerski track then. We thought this quite a thing, being able to rollerski without worry of cars and trucks. The terrain, too, was something else. The courses steep hills built up more than just my ski muscles. The terrain built up my capacity. On roads, you cant really do this. We needed those tough hills. Ive always thought I needed as much time training in the terrain of ski courses. The loop had this.

Maybe I do know something about skiing, but its been years since my ski career ended, continues Svan. The young skiers know me more for being on television than for skiing. Charlotte Kalla today told me, I always knew what you meant to Swedish skiing but I remember you from the Bingolotto and Gladiators. Its these shows I grew up watching.

Ive mostly been out of skiing since retiring after Falun 1991. Its been some years since my ski career ended. Since retiring most of my work has been working with business leadership with my wife. Its for this reason why I take on this new challenge with the Team. When told I was wanted for this job they said, Were not hiring you for what you did on the ski trails. They brought me in for the work Ive done since then.

Our team, maybe youve heard, has some challenges ahead, Gunde says in reference to Thobias and Mathias Fredrickson, Bjorn Lind and Anders Sodergrens decision to train and race outside Team Sweden. We cannot have two national programs going in two different directions. We have to be one. We have to work together. There is no other way.

One hour later, Mr. Svan met with the four members outside the team. Two days later, the four members were back within the national team. That weekend Bjorn Lind finished second in the individual sprint in Dusseldorf. Thobias Fredrickson, with Peter Larsson as teammate, won the World Cup Sprint Relay. The Gunde effect couldnt have hurt.

Torin Koos is a member of the National A Team for the United States. A World Cup, World Championship and Olympic competitor, Koos brings this experience to the FasterSkier sportscasting arena for the 2007/2008 season.

Equipment: Rossignol Skis, Boots and Bindings, Toko gloves and wax, Marwe, Exel poles, Rudy Project Eyewear, Powerbar

Home Ski Club: Leavenworth Winter Sports Club (www.skileavenworth.com)

Headgear Sponsor: USA Pears (www.usapears.com)

Best Western Icicle Inn (www.icicleinn.com)

BioSports NorthWest Physical Therapy (www.biosports.net)

Gunde Svan (photo credit: olympic.org)

Originaly from Source