On August 6, the news came that athletics coach Kenth Olsson had died, at the age of 79. He has trained many Swedish stars over several decades and was also previously the Swedish national team captain.
It has been an incredibly tough time, a few tough weeks, says Julia Henriksson who was one of his trainees.
During the Finnkamp weekend at Stockholm Stadium, the sprinter competes together with, among others, 400-meter runners Moa Granat and Josephine Risberg Thoor who also had Olsson as a coach.
”Worth being praised”
We have all trained with Kenth and we all want to perform. We know that Kenth also wants us to perform. Kenth loved athletics and we of course want to make him proud, says Henriksson.
Will you do any kind of tribute or honor him in some other way?
I always want to praise Kenth, he is worth being praised every day. We'll see.
Henriksson runs 200 meters on Saturday and 100 meters on Sunday. In the audience, her current Italian coach Marco Airale will be present.
”Will be a double victory”
He is also coming this weekend and will watch. He is looking forward to Finnkampen very much. He has not been a part of it before and is excited.
Last year, Sweden lost Finnkampen in Helsinki on both the men's and women's sides. That's what Henriksson wants to avoid this year. After Friday's opening race over 10 kilometers, Sweden leads 15-7 on the men's side and 12-10 on the women's side.
It will be a double victory for Sweden. We feel that we are strong, we have a good team and push each other. We are excited, she says.
