“If you are from Västra Frölunda, you are always innocent”

In June, Patrik Sjöberg drove on the E4 outside of Linköping. According to police information, the speed was measured at 146 kilometers per hour on Highway 110.

The athletics icon denies the incident and thus the case has been prosecuted. Sjöberg is also accused of violating the Road Traffic Tax Law because he did not pay the tax on the vehicle he was driving at the time.

According to a motorcycle policeman who followed Sjöberg down the highway for just over a kilometer, he had to brake hard towards the end to avoid a truck crew, but “the average speed was still 146 km / h.”

– It happened well in June, it is already exaggerated for me. I have written it on my Instagram. You’re second on the ball there, he tells GP.

“A principle of survival”

The prosecutor proposes that Patrik Sjöberg be sentenced to a fine of 4,500 SEK.

Sjöberg himself denies the crime.

– If you are from Västra Frölunda, you are always innocent, it is in our DNA. It is a principle of survival. You only recognize what you have to do, he says.

Patrik Sjöberg’s driving license was revoked for two months in connection with the incident, but he has now got it back.

The book exploded like a bomb

Patrik Sjöberg is one of the greatest Swedish sports profiles of all time and is still strongly associated with his world high jump record, 2.42, at the Stockholm Stadium in 1987.

In 2011 he published the book “What you did not see” that exploded like a bomb. In it, the track and field icon revealed his lifelong secret: how he, from high school and several years on, was subjected to sexual abuse by his stepfather and longtime coach Viljo Nousiainen.

Since then, Patrik Sjöberg has worked intensively against the vulnerability of children and has given lectures for municipalities, companies and sports associations.