SEven Norway’s prime minister spoke out after ski star Aksel Lund Svindal announced he had testicular cancer. “Get well soon, Aksel,” wrote Jonas Gahr Störe on Facebook and thanked the two-time Olympic champion for the openness and the appeal for precaution: “I support this call.”
Svindal, who retired after the 2019 World Cup, commented on his diagnosis on Instagram on Saturday – hoping to be a role model. “I know men aren’t good at talking about health issues. But sometimes you have to do exactly that,” wrote the former exceptional ski racer and provided information: “Did you know that testicular cancer is the most common type of cancer in men under the age of 50?”
He has already had an operation and has a “very good” prognosis, assured Svindal, who won Olympic gold in 2010 in the Super-G and 2018 in the downhill. The “past few weeks” have now been “different”, said the 39-year-old: “But I can say weeks, not months, because I had great medical help. I felt a change in my body, I wasn’t sure what it was or if it was anything at all.”
But he reacted, had himself examined and had to cope with the dreaded diagnosis. But all the tests and the procedure then took place very quickly, after the first week he was able to gain confidence, wrote the five-time world champion: “All thanks to this first decision to see a doctor when I suspected something was wrong.” .
Svindal has had to overcome numerous setbacks in his extraordinary sports career – several knee operations were mostly the result of violent falls in the Ski World Cup. His life story was honored in the extraordinary documentary Aksel, which was released in cinemas last winter. The result is a portrait of a man who, despite all his successes, has remained confident and modest, who has taken triumphs with him and endured tragedies.
The topic of testicular cancer is currently omnipresent in sport. In the Bundesliga alone, testicular tumor diseases had recently become public. Only last Wednesday, a tumor was discovered in Jean-Paul Boetius (28) from Hertha BSC during a urological examination. After Timo Baumgartl (26 / Union Berlin), Marco Richter (24 / Hertha) and Sebastien Haller (28 / Dortmund) it was the fourth case in the Bundesliga since spring.
