The Swedish people have had their say. The national jumping team won the Jerring Prize after a sensational Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. "The absolute greatest thing we have achieved", says Malin Baryard Johnsson in her speech.
For the first time in 97 years, Sweden won an Olympic gold medal in show jumping. This after a thrilling final in which the Swedish team - consisting of Henrik von Eckermann, Malin Baryard Johnsson and Peder Fredricson - was 1.3 seconds faster than the USA in a thrilling jump-off.
For this, they were awarded the Radiosportens Jerringpris. "We would like to thank our fantastic horses, "Indy" (Baryard Johnsson's Indiana), "Allan" (Fredricsson's All in) and Eddy (von Eckermann's King Edward) and their owners. We went to Tokyo and competed, competed and competed. When we won this gold, it was by far the greatest thing we have ever achieved. But it was when we got home that we realised we hadn't just won an Olympic gold. We had also won a new audience - a huge one," says Malin Baryard Johnsson in the team's acceptance speech.
"We know that we have incredible support and an incredible sect behind us. With many newcomers in our family", Malin mentioned. "We had high hopes", says Henrik von Eckermann after winning the Swedish people's vote.
Earlier in the evening, the national jumping team also received the Bragd Gold and the Team of the Year. In SVT's post-event talk, world champion Peder Fredricson elaborates on the feeling of taking home the last, and heaviest, prize of the evening. "It has been a fantastic evening for equestrian sport. To finish with the Jerring Prize was very big", he says and pays tribute to his teammates: "We have a very good team spirit and a great team spirit. We went to the Olympics to win Olympic gold, that was the only focus. There were no other things that took any energy away from us. And that's the mark of a team with really good team spirit."
Source: SVT/ press release Swedish Equestrian Federation