Anders Olsson (swimmer)

Anders Olsson (born September 15, 1965 in Hagfors) is a Swedish swimmer and triathlete.

Olsson is paralysed from the waist down and has barely 50 per cent lung capacity left after the injury. [http://www.jarnmannen.com/7636/]

Career

Anders Olsson began to swim at an early age and he was very promising. But in his early teens Olsson started to have problems with his back. It was a faulty vertebra that caused him pain. For a long time he was able to keep up with his athletic life but after a couple of years he had to undergo an arthrodesis operation. Due to an accident in the home he fell so bad that he tore up several muscles in his back. This led to other complications. He had to undergo a stomach surgery and because of a failure during the spinal anaesthesia he had to be treated in a medical ventilator and this finally led to him being paralysed from the waist down.

For several years Olsson was apathetic and even got addicted to drugs, such as morphine, and other painkillers. But, in 2002, when a close friend made a bet with him that he would swim the vansbrosimmet his life took a turn to the better. He started to train and when he crossed the finish line he was in the top 100's out of over 3000 competitors. This is a result he has later improved as he in 2007 came ninth.

In 2004 he competed in the Paralympics in Athens where he won one gold medal and two bronze medals. His favorite event is the 400 m freestyle, a distance he is undefeated at and where he is the current world record holder.

In 2005 he took on another challenge and managed to complete the 90 km long Vasaloppet.

In 2008 he competed in the Paralympics in Beijing where he won another two gold medal (100m & 400m frestyle).

External links

* [http://www.jarnmannen.com/ Official site]

References