Winter athletes about Stalkers: « We are a fairly vulnerable group »
In April, a 64-year-old man was sentenced in Ångermanland District Court for unlawful persecution.
The man had called cross-country skier Frida Karlsson 207 times, sent countless text messages and last year searched the 25-year-old star in three places.
Now the case will be up in the High Court – after both the prosecutor and the stalker appealed the conditional judgment.
– This with stalking affects many, especially women, Frida Karlsson said at a press conference in May.
– So it’s also for those I do this.
It is a difficult balancing act Living in the spotlight, continued the five -mile winner from the World Cup in an interview with DN.
On the one hand:
– It is a great opportunity to be public and as it looks now, it is what an athlete makes money on, not just the competitions themselves.
On the other hand:
– Bit this year I have felt that I have become a little more concerned about my privacy.
Her case puts focus on the back of celebrity.
Swedish winter athletes hardly live any Premier League star life with bodyguards or behind high walls. It is not difficult to find out where they train, where they live.
This has always been the case, says Johan Flodin, who is the sports manager and responsible for so -called safeguarding (security -creating work) at the Swedish Olympic Committee:
– This with stalking is not a new phenomenon, even if the network makes it easier. It has not been required that you be a private detective, neither now nor earlier.
– But in a hardening society, it is clear that there are risks. To be noticed, to stand for something, be good at something … It can induce strange feelings in people.
How much do you talk about this with athletes, is some kind of support offered?
– Feeling harassed is never okay, we are careful to take up in different contexts, says Johan Flodin.
– We have a very capable sports ombudsman in Sweden. They can follow a case from A to B and make assessments if the police report is required. If we talk about these roughest cases, it is a police thing, of course. We should not try to solve them in sports ourselves.
DN has talked to a Row winter athletes about the risk of unwelcome bumps from fans.
– I would still say that you are quite exposed. It is easy to find out where we live, where we are moving, says biathlon star Elvira Öberg.
– We are active in social media, because it is also part of our job, where we post where we are and where we are going. We are visible in the public and are easily accessible.
The Olympics in humpback piste, Walter Wallberg, agrees with a beach on the Swedish Olympic Committee’s Olympics in Crete.
– Of course, I can sometimes feel that you hand out a lot of information about yourself, how you live and where you live and what you do, he says.
– It is a choice of course. But it is also a prerequisite for us to be able to do what we are doing, that you leave that bit of yourself. But you get very exposed. It is well the back.
He has himself not suffered from stalking without feeling safe. But sports as a whole should talk more about how to deal with the issue.
– Yes, especially when there are situations like this one with Frida, says Wallberg.
Slalom specialist Anna Swenn-Larsson fills in:
– I’ve heard a little about this with Frida’s situation and it’s terrible.
– It feels so far away, but it may not. So it is clear that it may be good to talk about, even if it only happens one or two, there are two too many.
26-year-old Elvira Öberg won the World Cup gold in the mass start last winter and is one of the biathlon’s biggest name.
She has tried to delete her phone number from all services online, she says.
– I have tried to remove all the information, but it is difficult to remove everywhere.
Yes, then you should have a protected identity.
– Exactly, and it is not reasonable anyway, says Öberg, who joined the ski gym together with Frida Karlsson.
Have you received unwelcome calls or SMS?
– Not that way, but I don’t answer if someone unknown calls, says Elvira Öberg.
– Then I have actually been right away that it came and knocked on the door of my apartment. It is not a comfortable situation.
The incident happened several years ago but she clearly remembers it.
Today she is glad that she lives in a house with a gate code around the clock.
-Someone wanted to come and say hello and take a selfie but will knock on a 20-year-old girl’s apartment, it will be very strange. I didn’t know who it was so I opened the door, but there was no selfie.
Were you scared?
– I was not scared, I did not experience it as a threatening situation, but it became very strange and a little uncomfortable. It’s like ‘this is my space’, says Öberg.
What support do you have in such questions?
– We have nevertheless talked about some within the girl group (in the biathlon team), for example around social media.
Elvira Öberg told this winter that she was exposed to net hate.
It is not uncommon for the same person to contact several active online, she explains now.
– You may feel that « this is someone who writes very inappropriate comments ». Then you can flag a little for that account to the others, as well as « this may look good in the beginning but just so you know – I recommend blocking ». It becomes easier if you dramatize things and support each other.
Alpine skier Estelle Alphand Growing up with a father in the frame light.
Luc Alphand (France) won the total title in the Alpina World Cup in 1997.
However, it was impossible to get contact information for the family, says Alphand, who since 2017 competes for Sweden:
– We were on a red list, as you say in France. So the phone number was not found.
In the principle of public principle, the situation is different.
-In my world it sounds completely sick, says the 30-year-old, who still lives in France.
– Now I don’t think something like this would happen to me regardless, but it’s a little scary I think.
At the same time is not The solution to close, says several winter stars.
– It doesn’t feel like something that attracts, as well as living isolated, says biathlete Anna Magnusson.
Cross -country skier Linn Svahn is Frida Karlsson’s best friend:
– I think you have to assume that everyone has a good intention and not always think that there is a risk to do something that we love, she says.
– I think there are occasional cases (of stalking) and it not only affects athletes and public figures but is a structural problem in society. But I don’t think it’s a solution to boom ourselves.
Frida Karlsson said Last month to DN that earlier in life she has been « credible ». « Very good » even:
– I am absolutely left in my personality that I always think that a person is good. But it is clear that you can be reminded not to be as naive as I may once were.
The biathlon Sebastian Samuelsson grew up in the same city (Sollefteå), has been used to making his voice heard and through his career forced receive both threats and hatred.
However, he has managed the type of problem that Frida Karlsson has suffered from, says the 28-year-old. Although it has happened that he received single telephone calls « from someone who has only searched the phone number ».
– It is clear that it is a bit strange, but I would say that I have been very spared, says Samuelsson.
– I feel most times that people are very respectful.
However, there are small things in life that he does automatically, as a public person.
Maybe it is not necessary, but it feels natural, says the biathlon profile.
– For example, I very rarely post a picture when I’m in a specific place, but only when I have left that place.
Read more:
Frida Karlsson’s first word after the trial: « Not as naive as I was once »
