Friday and Saturday are dedicated to my engagement for the Swedish Sports Federation for the Disabled and Paralympic Committee.
These two days we gather all coaches and managers for all the differents sports to discuss the Beijing Games and the plan for the coming 8 years.
It’s really interesting to listen to and share the experiences of all the 17 sports that are here and the discussions following their briefings. Everything from leadership, budget, organisation and the abilities of the athletes varies extremely between the different sports.
I am convinced that we need to share all these experiences between ourselves, but we also need to share and exchange information and experiences with the regular Olympic Sports.
Nowadays everything matters, all the preparations, of all the athletes and the organisation team behind them. Nowadays it’s not enough to be an amazing talent, you need everything to work to become a champion.
The challenging part will start after this meeting when we in the board make the budget for the next year. When we will try to divide the money we got, knowing that we only will have half of what the different sports will be asking for. But even though it is challenging, it is also extremely interesting and rewarding.
All the time I put into the Paralympic movement, I regard as my “payback time”. Where I give back to the people and sports that have made me and my life today what it is.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Secretary General Mr. Stig Carlsson
