Anders Olsson

Anders began to swim at an early age and was very promising. But fate decided otherwise... After having been involved in an accident as a child, he started having back problems a few years later. For a couple of years, he was able to keep up with his athletic life but the pain became so important that he had to undergo a few surgeries.

 
Paralyzed from the waist down, the first years were very difficult to him. He was dependent on drugs such as morphine and other painkillers. The year 2002 changed his life. One of his close friends took him to a swim competition, an annual 3 kilometer event in a river. That was what he needed. Back on training, Anders improved his performance year after year. He won a gold medal and two bronze medals in the 2004 Athens Paralympics.
 

His favorite event remains the 400m freestyle swim, a distance he is undefeated at and where he is the current world record holder.
Nothing can stop him anymore. In 2005, he took part in a cross-country skiing competition, using a sled. 2008 was the year of Beijing Paralympics, where he won 2 gold medals. Last but not least in 2011, he won the annual swim competition at Alcatraz, where he swam from the island to the shore.