On Saturday, the documentary film “The Fight – Per Carlén’s Fight Against Cancer” premieres on TV4 Play. In spring 2023, former top-level player Per Carlén, 65, was diagnosed with colon cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs.
"It's always sad news, and it's clear that it affects you more when it's people you have a close relationship with," says Staffan Olsson, now the captain of the Netherlands national team, who face Sweden in Saturday's European Championship opener at Malmö Arena.
Part of "Bengan Boys"
Olsson and Carlén played together in the national team that broke a barrier when they defeated the then handball giant, the Soviet Union, in the 1990 World Cup final.
"I know how much he has struggled. I've been in a lot of contact with him at times. I'm keeping all my fingers crossed that things will go well for him."
The World Cup gold medal in Prague was the start of a golden era. Under the leadership of national captain Bengt “Bengan” Johansson, who died in 2022, Sweden won two World Cup gold medals, four European Championship gold medals and three Olympic silver medals, among other things.
Are you a tight group from the "Bengan Boys" years who keep in touch often?
"It's a bit scattered like that. You have a little more contact with some and a little less with others, but when you run into each other it's as if time has stood still. You don't realize we've gotten a little older, but you recognize the jargon and everyone is happy to see each other," says 61-year-old Staffan Olsson.
Olsson was with the team until Johansson's last championship as national team captain in 2004. Per Carlén never played for the national team again after the heavy defeat in the Olympic final in Atlanta in 1996 - he left his shoes on the podium after the silver medals were awarded.
One foot in the grave
During the week, Carlén received news that a new round of chemotherapy is expected, writes Aftonbladet.
"To prevent cancer cells from spreading in the body," he tells the newspaper, and continues:
"There is no time horizon, no such limit. But I will not get rid of it completely, so sooner or later…"
When he spoke for the first time about his fight against cancer in February 2024, Carlén told Helsingborgs-Dagblad that he had "one foot in the grave."
"Yes, but it's up now. In the right place. I'm going to do everything I can to get up in the morning, live a healthy life; research is progressing terribly quickly," he now tells Aftonbladet.
