“Congratulations, Sarah! You are the best in the world ‘- Göteborgs-Posten

Sarah Sjostrom made in Kazan was not unexpected, astonishing or surprising. So it was really a feat?

Yes, if you swim faster than any done before, it’s hard to call it anything else.

We land the light of semantics when we’re talking about the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet gold medal, better known as Bragd gold. For that special word, “feat” makes us remember moments when David defeated Goliath, moments where miracles were true and advance the hints thrown in the trash.

But Bragd gold is athletic Sweden’s most prestigious award, and shared a long time ago out to the man or woman who performed the most impressive accomplishment, no matter how expected or unexpected it was.

In the statutes of the price can read the following: “With the feat understood in this context the decision of a high rank , won by an exceptional array of technical and tactical expertise, the will to win and Energy in association with sporting ambition. “

There is therefore nothing that performance should have been” against all odds “or the like. However, there is the addition of “bragdens value shall be considered elevated in a case where the decision made in a difficult and precarious position”. It is a hard and difficult location to get to the World Cup as a favorite, with the world best in the back, and then swim home two gold waiting?

Yes, I do think that, despite everything. Not unexpectedly, blaring magnificent. But that it is both difficult and risky to try – and succeed – swim faster than any woman in history – that I think we can agree on.

Zlatan then? Who made eleven of the team’s 19 goals in the European Championship qualifiers, and three of the four Swedish cases playoff meeting with Denmark? I myself was in place at the park and saw our story like the football hero’s display, and some carry that stake a feat stamp. But no matter how you look at it: to be the fastest in the world is that individual bet a greater achievement than to score on a disillusioned Denmark. It does not mean that Sjostrom is a greater athlete than Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He is our greatest. But the 2015 medal will Sarah have.

Many hoped that the U21 team would get the prize this time. It had been a fun, spirited and in truth feat compliant decisions. The way our young national team fought and gored through both the qualifying and finals and then end up winning a penalty shoot the final is unforgettable. A part of me (the heart) had rejoiced if the jury gave Håkan Ericson youths medal. But another part (brain) had said no, it is actually not. To compete against the best in their age bumps are not the same as competing against the best in all categories.

Congratulations, Sarah. You are the best in the world, you are worth this price. And if you only keep you injury-up to the Olympics, chances are that you get there is already a year back.