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There are raw materials and then there are raw materials. Linus Thörnblad started athletics shortly before his 16th birthday. Two years later he jumped 2.30, as a junior. That height had been enough for a medal at the 2012 Olympics.
For the super athlete from Lund, however, there were never any Olympics in London. The mental tension became too much, the pressure on oneself and the one who came from outside became too great.
But the race started out differently in a brilliant way. After the giant jump of 2.30 when he was 18, he went and competed in the Athens Olympics immediately after graduating in 2004, a game in which Stefan Holm won gold.
It was in connection with that championship that it became clear that Thörnblad was seen as Holm’s heir. Being constantly compared to Holm and previous high jump phenomenon Patrik Sjöberg proved unhealthy for Skåne.
– I felt like I needed to prove myself constantly. As soon as I did a less good competition, I went down completely. I often shit if I didn’t skip 2.30, just because I’d take over after Holm. That was the pressure I felt. If I jumped 2.20, that’s what sank the whole world and the media also wrote that it was a huge failure if I jumped 2.20. He could be completely sawn even though he was the best Swedish athlete in the championship.
Was the media too harsh on you?
– At the same time, I probably diluted it quite well myself. Maybe they considered me a bit arrogant, but I was just being honest. If they asked me if I wanted to be the best in the world, I would answer that I wanted to be. Many in athletics are very careful in their statements, and that’s sad. Interest in sports in the media then diminishes, of that I’m pretty sure.
“He turned black, he started crying for nothing”
After Thörnblad’s failure at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, he saw his chance to make a third appearance in London in 2012, his third Olympiad. But sadly, it never happened. In 2010, Thörnblad was forced to end his career when he hit the wall and ended up in a deep depression.
– I was absolutely sure he was sick. It just got worse and worse. It turned black. I slept all day, woke up anxious, started crying over nothing. Even though I just slept all the time, I never got in shape. I was not out of the apartment for several weeks.
How did it really turn out?
– I was completely obsessed with pushing myself across the border. I was mentally excited 24 hours a day. During all the waking hours, I focused only on sports. How would I get stronger, how would I improve technically, etc. I didn’t give up between workouts. So in hindsight, I should have had something that broke it, something that forced me to think about something else. Now it became too much for me, precisely because I was thinking about the high jump all the time.
How are you today, like this ten later?
– I feel good. I’ve found a decent balance, I’d say I’m at 80% level. I will probably never get to one hundred percent, to work full time, train and do other things … No, it is important to find the balance so as not to end up in the same swamp again.
Today, Thörnblad makes his living primarily as a lecturer, recounting his own journey from a publicized giant talent to destructive obscurity, and how he rose again. Perspective on burnout and mental illness, simply put. His advice for talented elite athletes is clear:
– Learn to relax. With anything really, it just forces you not to think about what you feel you need to think about. It gives much more energy!
Powerful goodbye to athletics, after all
Eight years after finishing his high jump career, Thörnblad made a sensational comeback in August 2018 when he competed in the Swedish Championship and won. This time, Skåne had to finish on her own initiative in the best possible way with a gold in the last jump of her career.
– It was a really great feeling and it was a perfect opportunity to thank me. I could barely train before the Swedish Championship, but I still won and then of course I thought, “The Olympics are two years away, I won’t do it yet …”. But no, this time I really wanted to leave it on my own terms. It would have been too much at stake if he had bet on the Olympics. It didn’t seem like it was worth it.
Given your career ups and downs, how do you sum up your years as an elite high jumper?
– I’m happy with how high I jumped (personal best 2.38). I don’t think I could have jumped much higher. The sad thing is that he should have won more medals and championships. I’m starting to drop it now, but there was more to take off. My weakness was that I tried too hard. I thought it was a fortress, but in my case it was not. I smelled the best years of my career, but I still have many good memories for which I am very grateful.
