Per-Ola Andersson is the father and coach of Ebba Andersson.

A coaching solution she is alone in the national ski team and which is unusual in the rest of the cross-country ski world.

He is a former racer and trained coach at the ski high school in Sollefteå.

Ebba Andersson tells how important it is for her to have her father as a coach:

- I think it is an asset, otherwise I would not have chosen to have it this way.

He knows me very much on a deep level, which means that we have a very good transparency towards each other.

Optimal cooperation

TT: Is it just positive to have your dad as a coach.

Is there not a risk of missing external input about the training?

- Right now I see no obstacles.

I can not sit here and answer about what it was like to have had the coaching solution in a different way.

I know nothing else.

I have had my father as a coach since I finished high school.

Otherwise, I do not think I had this development as a skier.

Ebba Andersson has daily contact with her father, both at home and at the national team camp.

- It does not mean that I have my mouth closed to the national team coaches.

Stefan Thomson is, among other things, responsible for my strength training.

There I play a lot with him.

Per-Ola Andersson also sees several advantages in training his daughter:

- I know her better than anyone else.

It is enough to just look at her or hear her voice and I will understand if everything is good or less good, he says.

Important to remember

At the same time, he acknowledges that there is one thing that is extra important to think about when you are a father and coach:

- It is to be able to distinguish between when she is active and when she is my child.

TT: Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis managed to get his father Greg and mother Helena as personal coaching support during the Olympics in Tokyo, despite the pandemic.

Would it be impossible for you to do the same with your father in Beijing?

- Now an idea was raised.

This is something I have not thought about or reflected on until now.

I have to consider whether it is an issue worth fighting for.

At the same time, there will be a lot of restrictions in China and he is only a call away, says Ebba Andersson.

"Limited amount"

National team manager Anders Byström explains why it would be a difficult solution within the national ski team, despite the fact that the national athletics team did well:

- We have a very limited number of accreditations and it would be very difficult to get all private coaches.

The athletes have no national team coaches but only private coaches, I guess.

Skiers can still get in touch with their coaches by phone.

Active in social media

Otherwise, Ebba Andersson seems to enjoy life.

It can be seen in social media where she has been very active lately.

- I have put some gunpowder on social media because it provides the conditions to be able to do this.

When you think about how society develops, social media has a strong position in society linked to sponsorship.

This is a financial gain.

You should not stick it under a chair.

Clip: Ebba Andersson about the noise in the national team

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Anders Byström and Ebba Andersson about the processing after the crash.

Photo: Bildbyrån / SVT