Sweden already schooling future Winter Olympians
OSTERSUND: Next month’s Winter Olympics is the immediate focus for Sweden but the country is already training its next generation of winter sports athletes in special high school programs that combine sports and education for ambitious teenagers.
At the Jamtlands Gymnaisum high school in Ostersund, some 550 kilometres north of Stockholm, promising young skiers and biathletes are put through their paces four mornings a week by highlyqualified coaches at a local ski stadium.
They return to school at lunchtime, piling their plates high with pasta and salad in the cafeteria before heading to the classroom to catch up on their studies. And when they are done in the classroom, they head back to the gym to work on their strength and conditioning before finishing their homework and heading for bed at the end of a long day.
It sounds like a gruelling schedule, but for those taking part it is a dream way to spend their school years. “It’s very important, it feels like this is my life,” Julia Albertsson, a budding cross-country skier, told Reuters after strapping on her skis for her morning training session.
“You feel like you’re not just a person, you’re a cross-country skier. Right now it’s the most important thing,” she said before setting off at a blistering pace under the watchful eyes of coach David Engstrom.
“Eventually, we want them to reach the elite. It’s a very long way, and this is just the start of that long road,” Engstrom said as the skiers raced away.
“We’ve just completed an application period, and I’d say we take in around eight (athletes) every year. It’s up to themselves how good they can be. “They decide the level of ambition, and how much time they put into training and everything else they need to become really good.” Albertsson and the cross-country students train alongside the school’s biathletes, who are coached by Jean-Marc Chabloz, a four-time Olympian from Switzerland who has made his home in the area. “We have good clubs in the area who work with young people, so we have them served up to us on a silver platter,” Chabloz said as he gave the teenagers shooting tips. Despite his own Olympic history, where he took part in the Games in Albertville, Lillehammer, Nagano and Salt Lake City, the 50-yearold said it was not essential for him that the athletes go on to compete at the Games, or in the World Cup.
“I wouldn’t say that’s what drives me as a coach, it’s more about creating a platform so that they can move on in their sporting lives, or in something else. But obviously it’s great when they succeed in sport,” he explained.
School sporting director Michael Soderkvist and his team of teachers and coaches look after the student athletes, making sure they stay focussed on their studies as well as their dreams of representing Sweden at a future Olympics. “The goal is to give students a chance to get an education, and in combination to see how far you can get with your sporting talent,” Soderkvist said.