Speed ​​Skating Swedish Olympic champion, who ends his career at the age of 25, does not hide his opinion of the Russian attack: “Hell in all directions”

Swedish achieved 18 medals at the Beijing Olympics and placed fifth in the medals table at the Games.

There were eight gold medals, and two of them were taken by a speed skater Nils van der Poel, which won the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races. In the latter, he broke his own world record time.

Already during the Olympics, van der Poel said his career could end this season. He stated that this is his “belief”. He also admitted that he has made his decisions before.

Now it seems that this weekend’s World Championships in Norway and next weekend’s competitions in Heerenveen, the Netherlands, are the last of the 25-year-old van der Poel at the international level.

“This race is my last as a top skater. I have experienced what I have wanted to experience. I will be an amateur skater for the rest of my life, ”van der Poel told the media during the World Cup According to Expressen.

Leaving a top career below average is not the first special solution in van der Poel’s career.

Read more: Animal training on the Swedish skating ramp is muted – no one else could follow this training program

After the 2018 Olympics, van der Poel joined the Swedish Army Special Regent Battalion, which can be equated with paratroopers and special border guards in Finland.

In the following years, a considerable part of van der Poel’s training was cycling. He could ride a bike for up to 30 hours a week.

Beijing van der Poel donates 10,000m gold medal to Swedish human rights activist after Olympics Angela Guillewhose father, a book publisher Gui Minhai is imprisoned in China.

Van der Poel thus wanted to draw attention to China’s human rights abuses and put pressure on China to release Gui Minhai.

Now van der Poel has also taken a stand on Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

“It is totally reprehensible that a dictatorship ruled by one madman will set in motion and decide to restrict the freedom of a sovereign democracy. It’s hell in every way, ”van der Poel said of Expressen.

Van der Poel explained to the media that he wanted to talk about it this way.

“I think it is dangerous to express oneself and it is dangerous to express opinions, but it is damn much more dangerous not to do so. ”

Van der Poel was also asked how he sees the situation in Ukraine as a soldier with special training.

“If it comes to mobilization, then I’m leaving,” van der Poel said.