4,000 children take part in Olympic Day celebrations in Stockholm

Around 4,000 children participated in the Olympic Day celebrations at Stockholm Stadium organised by the Swedish Olympic Committee.

Together with several Olympians, children from schools and the general public had the opportunity to test the activities of Stockholm’s sports associations.

The children who came to the Olympic Days at Stockholm Stadium had the chance to meet several Swedish Olympic medalists such as discus thrower Simon Pettersson , sailor Fredrik Bergström and the curler Christoffer Sundgren.  Also former Olympic heroes such as Danijela Rundqvist and Frida Nevalainen , ice hockey, Jessica Lindell-Vikarby , alpine and Tord Wiksten , biathlon participated and played sports with the children.

– It’s fun if you can help motivate someone or get someone to want to invest in sports. It’s a dream in itself really, to make your career mean something to someone else, says Simon Pettersson .

On Friday 9 September, approximately 1,200 school children from schools in the surrounding area were invited in collaboration with the School Sports Association and Djurgården’s school IF. On Saturday, the Olympic Day sports stations were open to the public, which attracted around 2,800 participants. In addition to twelve sports inside the Stadium, the children could also run the Little Olympia race in Lill-Jansskogen and get to receive an honorable medal.

It is the eleventh year in a row that the Swedish Olympic Committee has organised Olympic Days, which aim to give children the chance to find a sport that suits them. Last spring, the Olympic days were held in Lidköping and Malmö, and in November the last days of the year were held in Enköping.