In winning the Olympic gold medal in Sailing at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Magnus Liljedahl (pronounced LEELLCHEDAWL) personified the against-all-odds fighting spirit that has earned him the nickname "The Viking". A dedicated athlete and sailor since childhood, he has competed at the top of his sport since he was a young man with many notable accomplishments on his sailing resume.
In 1997, he teamed up with Mark Reynolds with the hopes of making the Olympic team. Their first few victories in world-level regattas gave them a top ranking, and for the next two years they dominated the Star Boat class before capturing the US Olympic Trials in the spring of 2000 and the right to represent the United States at the Sydney Games.
Just ten months earlier, Liljedahl’s wife of 22 years, Agneta, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. He took a hiatus from training for the next four months to become her ‘coach’ in fighting what would eventually be a losing battle. Almost exactly 1 year prior to the Sydney games, Magnus lost his beloved Agneta.
Magnus credits his return to Olympic training for his ability to recover from this devastating blow. Over the next six months, Reynolds and Liljedahl continued to compete successfully, but without the dominance of prior months. Many thought they had peaked too soon, and Liljedahl’s personal loss was weighing heavy. After five Olympic races (out of 11 total), they stood 12th in the standings by a significant margin, an almost impossible deficit to overcome in such a talented field of international champions.
In what has been called the greatest comeback in Olympic sailing history, a demoralized Liljedahl remembers bringing to bear all they had learned in training camp - the mental exercises, the competitive strategies, the physical training - that enabled them to find the focus and determination to go on. The duo stunned the competition by posting finishes of 1-2-4-1-2 in the final days of the Olympic Regatta and vaulted to the top of the medal podium, bringing home the gold for the United States.
Six weeks later Reynolds and Liljedahl were named the International Sailing Federation/Sperry World Sailors of the Year 2000. The short list of nominees contained all the gold medal winners from the Sydney Olympics and the winning New Zealand America's Cup team. The voters were sailors and journalists from all over the world and on November 7th, they received this top honor from His Majesty King Harold of Norway during a ceremony in Edinburgh, Scotland. And on Feb. 9, 2001, with the New York Yacht Club Model Room as a backdrop, the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Awards were given to the team of Reynolds and Liljedahl, completing the "clean sweep" of the most prestigious awards in the sport of sailing.
Today Liljedahl shares his life experiences, training tips, motivation and team building skills through Team Paradise, which he founded in 2005.
Team Paradise provides boats and equipment to disabled sailors with Paralympic ambitions, sailors who want to explore their limits and reach for lofty goals. The service is free of charge for the disabled athlete. "I volunteered at Shake-A-Leg Miami for years and I saw the need for first class equipment, which is needed to win. The sport is very suitable for disabled, because the mental aspect is more important than the physical.
The camaraderie among the sailors is fantastic. The sport itself is very complex and involves many different areas of adversity. You are dealing with a boat and its different parts, wind, water, current and waves. There are strategy and tactics, which best could be compared to a chess game. It is intense competition, always invigorating. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. And then you go back out and win again. It is a great sport because you can stay with it your entire life. Your mentors, idols, and competitors become your friends and you watch one another develop throughout your lifetime".