A day to remember

Today I wake up to the memory of a friend who left this world way too early, 16 years ago.

We met in the late nineties when he wrestled with my future brother-in-law at a bachelor party that I had arranged. Very quickly he became a close friend of mine. He always showed great interest in what I was working on and always wanted to hear what I was doing. We had a lot of discussions about what he should do after his career as an elite wrestler ended. He had a lot of ideas and we tried to find opportunities for his future. We turned all possible stones and even thought about working together in the glove business.

In 2000 the opportunity came to take over the GT wrestling competition and he was the driving force that convinced me to go in and change the competition name to Soft Touch Open. We were both very enthusiastic and happy to finally do something together.

The same year he went to Sydney to represent Sweden in wrestling. After having won the World and the European championships he now succeeded with his biggest dream - winning the Olympic gold. I watched him on TV with my family from our couch in Sweden. We were all so wonderfully happy for him. When he came back home we met and he brought his Olympic gold medal to show. I was allowed to hold it and it was a big, very big moment.

We all remember him as an amazing person with so much kindness and warmth. Forever missed.

R.I.P.