Fanny Olson on life after the attention-grabbing SVT series

Before Täby Gallop closed, four jogging profiles were filmed for a week. The result was the documentary “Jockey”, which was broadcast on the SVT channel. 20-year-old Fanny Olson was among those who fought to one day become a professional jockey. A lot has happened since then, among other things, she chose to move to the United States in 2018.

The goal was to take the next step in a country where her chosen sport is much bigger, in another documentary you can follow her struggle to establish herself on American soil. At the same time, she also lived as a “thief” with her best friend.

Now, however, life looks different.

– I got engaged, we’ll get married soon is the plan and after that I had children. I haven’t ridden a lot of races in a long time. I only found out I was pregnant after six weeks, before I didn’t know it. I even won races when I was pregnant. I ate a pill, I wouldn’t really get pregnant, says the star jockey and continues:

– At first I thought “what would this be like”, then I got used to the idea and thought it would be interesting. It’s a time in life for everything and it felt like it was a good time for me, I have the best friend in the world, soon man, I’m so happy with everything.

“totally shit in it”

Her boyfriend is also canter and owns several horses. They work together in the morning while looking after their son Noah.

– People ask if we go on “dating nights” and then I say we have “dating mornings,” Fanny Olson laughs.

It’s still too early for her to start horse racing.

– I had a C-section, so it took a while before I started riding again. Six weeks later I’ve started to ride slowly but I’m still breastfeeding so it will probably take a while before I start racing again, maybe a couple of months.

However, there are those with opinions who continue to ride as a rider.

Most people don’t think I should ride because I have kids now and can think of someone other than myself, all those things, but if I feel like I want to ride, I’ll do it. I totally disdain what other people think is good or bad.

– They say it’s dangerous and you can get hurt but you can get hurt when you cross the street or drive too. I think that’s a bad excuse.

Thrive: “Stay here”

She and her family live near a running track in Fort Lauderdale, a safe area where she enjoys her new life and often receives visits from family members in Sweden. She has no idea of ​​returning to Swedish territory, at least not permanently.

I think I’ll stay in the United States, at least as it looks now. Maybe we should try to get a house in Sweden where you can go for a couple of months in the summer and maybe during Christmas. So you have your own place there.

It’s been just over seven years since the SVT documentary aired. She hopes her openness to life as a jockey has helped young people who want to invest.

I’ve always thought it fun to inspire young people and say what you think and think without being wrong, you can think what you want, I feel, you can say it well without being mean.

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– It’s the same here (in the US) too. Everyone respects me well because they know I say what I think and I think even if it’s not always good. You are respected in a good way. You have to be a little tough when you work with horses and especially when there are a lot of guys, athletes in general know your best so you have to stand on your feet.

She is also clear on the question of whether she could consider riding racing in Sweden again.

– They changed many things. It looks like jogging is about to turn into chaos in Sweden. When I get home, I actually don’t think I was interested in riding the races at home, I think everyone is just complaining. Boring. Maybe I could run in trot races instead, it sure would have been more fun.