Sweden are special for Swiss No1
Thursday, June 12, 2008
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Switzerland's Olympic hopeful Beatrice Lundmark has seen her training disrupted by the Sweden team who are using the same Lugano headquarters.
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The UEFA European Championship has brought a change to the daily routine of Switzerland high-jump champion Beatrice Lundmark who, despite having to wait for the Sweden team to finish their workout at the Centro Sportivo Cornaredo in Lugano before she can get down to training, has reason to take an interest in her usurpers.
Swedish roots
"Every day, I train here. Although now that they're here," Lundmark said, nodding towards the Swedish football team on the Cornaredo pitch, "I have to wait until the afternoon to train but that's fine." When Sweden opened their training session to the public on the day after their Group D game against Greece on Tuesday, Lundmark was one of the Lugano residents who took the chance to see the team up close. "I was very happy when they won their match against Greece," said Lundmark, whose surname comes from her grandfather who was born in Sweden before moving to Switzerland. "[Zlatan] Ibrahimović in particular did really well. He scored the best goal so far of the tournament."
Olympic goal
The FC Internazionale Milano forward is also the Swedish player that Lundmark, who competes at many athletics events in Italy, is most familiar with. "He plays in Italy and Serie A is the league that I follow the most. I'm not a football junkie but I like to follow the EURO and the World Cup." Lundmark holds the Swiss high-jumping title, both indoors and outdoors, and for much of June and July she will train and compete with one dream in mind – to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. "I have to jump 1.91m to qualify," she explained. "My personal best is 1.86."
'Sweden to progress'
Although Lundmark has a soft spot for Sweden, her first-choice team at UEFA EURO 2008™ is unsurprisingly Switzerland, although she might have to divert all her support to Ibrahimović and Co after the co-hosts were knocked out on Wednesday night. "I am Swiss. I compete for Switzerland. That makes me feel like I'm a team-mate of the Swiss team. But I think Sweden have a good chance of going far in the tournament."
