MUNICH (VG) Swedish EC hope Bianca Salming (23) was shocked when she found her ALS-afflicted father – ice hockey legend Börje Salming (71) – in the stands of the Olympic Stadium in Munich.

– So cool, I didn’t know he would come. “You’re not sure if he can travel, so that’s really exciting,” said the Swede’s multi-match hopeful Aftonbladet.

Last week it became known that Börje Salming had ALS. The sad news about his neurological illness received great attention in the Swedish and Canadian media in particular. Salming is considered a hard-nosed tough guy who, in the early 1970s, paved the way for Swedish ice hockey players’ next entry into the world’s best ice hockey league, the North American NHL.

He has a very special position in Swedish sport in particular and among most people in Sweden. Börje Salming is a legend, with 17 years of experience in the NHL and some fantastic games for the Swedish national ice hockey team Tre Kronor at the World Cup and Canada Cup in 1976.

In the early 1990s, he returned to Swedish club hockey. From 1990 to 1993 he played for the Stockholm team AIK, alongside former Norwegian national team captain Petter Salsten, among others.

On August 10 this year, Salming said he had been diagnosed with ALS.

– I have received a message that shook my life and that of my family. The signs that my body was not okay turned out to be ALS. In an instant, everything changed, he said.

Her daughter Bianca is participating in her first major international championship since the European Commission in Berlin four years ago. He had a great start to the 7 game competition in Munich. With Börje’s father leading the cheering crowd in shirts emblazoned with the words “Bianca Salming Fan Club” in the stands, he started in the 100 meter hurdles of 14.37 – 4/100 of the “press” – and the year’s best result at 1.86 meters .