Swedish star skater Nils van der Poel won double Olympic gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.

He first took home the noblest prize at 5,000 meters and then did the same at double the distance – a historic effort for which he was awarded the Bragdguldet in early December.

"What I had was exploited"

But Nils van der Poel did not like doing so-called sportswashing in China, and therefore donated one of his Olympic gold medals to the Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai, who has been imprisoned in China for seven years.

In the SVT Sports Yearbook, the 26-year-old tells more about his high-profile decision.

- The gist of it was that I wanted to achieve something good as an athlete.

What I had invested in becoming a good athlete was used to justify a regime's violations of human rights, he says.

Later in the season, he took Sweden's first all-round WC title in 49 years, but then chose to end his career aged only 25.

He chose to leave elite sport with the flag flying high and an obvious realization that there are bigger things in life.

- Standing up for what you believe in and wanting to say it is primarily tied to us as people and not as sportsmen, says Nils van der Poel.

CLIP: See van der Poel's strange reaction to the Bragdguldet: "I know what I've done"

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See van der Poel's strange reaction to the Bragdguldet: "I know what I've done"