Career in Sweden
Peter Eriksson was born in Stockholm, Sweden, the only son of Eskil (a construction worker) and Ellen (a switchboard operator). Spending the first years of his life in Södermalm, southside of Stockholm he eventually moved and grew up in Bagarmossen, a suburb of the city of Stockholm, and from an early age he was instilled with a strong work ethic from his parents. As a young man he was interested firstly in athletics, and competed in the sport of speed skating for 17 years (1963–1980). He participated in the Sprint World Championships in 1977 and 1979 with the best performance of 10th place in the 500-metre in 1977 World Championships. During his speed skating career, he represented Södermals IK and Pollux speed skating clubs. From 1972 to 1983 he worked as a fireman (#128) on Östermalms Fire Station in Stockholm. In 1980 Eriksson participated as an apprentice coach at the 1980 Olympic Games for the Swedish Track and Field Association. During these games Eriksson met Gusti Laurell, former Swedish national coach, who became his mentor and has influenced him throughout his coaching career. In addition to Laurell, Herman Buuts, the former national head coach of Sweden and the Netherlands, helped him with summer training during his last two active years as a speed skater. Buuts has also had a tremendous impact on Eriksson’s coaching philosophy and interest in track and field throughout his career. Eriksson first became involved in coaching after the end of his speed skating career. He began his coaching career in Stockholm with a junior speed skating team and around 1982 moved over to coach Paralympic track and field athletes. The transition occurred while studying at Boson Sports School east of Stockholm where he met wheelchair track athlete Ronnie Schuttman, who asked Eriksson to coach him. Eriksson completed his master's degree in physical education at GIH (University of Stockholm) 1983. He taught in schools around Stockholm for a few years before starting research in the physiology on spinal cord injuries at the University of Stockholm for ProfessorsCareer in North America
Eriksson moved toCareer in UK
Eriksson was hired by UK Athletics as the head coach/performance director for the Paralympic program from March 2009 to October 2012. The mission was to change the international medal standing for the GB & NI team. At the 2008 Paralympic Games the GB & NI team finished 18th in the Nations standing, with two Gold medals (David Weir). The goal was set to improve the performance of the GB & NI team to be the top 10 nation at the 2011 IPC World Championships and to be the top 8 nation at the 2012 Paralympic Games leading up to a finish in the top 3 in 2016. Under the leadership of Eriksson, the 2011 IPC World Championships results were better than expected where the GB & NI team finished 3rd in the overall medal standing with 12 gold medals and with 38 medals in total. The 2012 Paralympic Games in London continued to be a success where the GB & NI team once again finished 3rd with 11 Gold medals and with 29 medals in total. Part of the success for the GB & NI team under Eriksson’s leadership has been complete integration with the Olympic program, the slogan for achieving this being 'the same, the same, the same', ensuring all funded athletes on the Paralympic program have the same opportunity, facilities, support services, training/coaching environment and expectations as their Olympic counterparts. In October 2012, Eriksson was appointed to replaceBack to North America 2013
Eriksson accepted the CTO/head coach position at Athletics Canada in August 2013 located in his hometown of Ottawa, Ontario. This CTO/head coach position was inclusive of both the Paralympic and Olympic programs. The mandate and the reason for hiring Eriksson was to improve the medal count at major events such as Paralympic and Olympic Games, IAAF and IPC World Championships, Commonwealth Games, PanAm Games etc. From 1996 to 2013, the average medal count for the Canadian track and field team has been 0–2 medals at major events. Eriksson once again delivered above expectations on medals at major events. During his time at Athletics Canada, Eriksson did not just make history with record medal counts at major events he also established himself as the most medal-winning head coach of Canadian Athletics in modern history with the following performances: * 2016 – Olympic Games, top-10 nation with a record of 6 medals; this was the first time Canada was ranked in top 10 at the Olympic Games in modern times; Canada ranked 35th at the 2012 Olympic Games * * 2016 – Paralympic Games, top-14 nation improved from 25th nation in 2012 Paralympic Games * 2015 – IAAF World Championships, Record of 8 medals ranked 7th in nations ranking in the Medal table; this was the first time Canada was ranked in top 10 in World Championships since 1995. Canada ranked 21st in 2013 and 22nd in 2011 in the medal table * * 2015 – PanAm Games, record of 27 medals, 2nd in the nation ranking, compared to 4 medals in 2011 * * 2014 – Commonwealth Games, Record of 17 medals, ranked 5th nation in the medal table compared to 14 medals in 2010 Eriksson left his position in December 2016. Athletics Canada's board of directors and CEO have acknowledged that Coach Eriksson had an outstanding career as Head Coach at Athletics Canada and that under his leadership Athletics Canada athletes received record-breaking results at numerous international and world competitions during his tenure. In 2017 Eriksson started working as high-performance adviser for Own the Podium (funding agency for elite sport in Canada). Since October 2021 Eriksson works as an independent High Performance Consultant.Medals
Paralympic medals won by athletes under Eriksson's coaching: Medals won by athletes under Eriksson's leadership:Personal life
Eriksson married Rhonda Nishio (born 1955) in 1992 in Ottawa. He is the father of four daughters, Jaclyn (born 1994), Jennifer (born 1995), Jasmine (born 1999), Julia (born 2002).Coaching – Awards
2017 – Medal of Confederation – Senate of Canada 2012 – High Performance Coach of the Year – UK Coaching Awards – UK Coach 2012 – Hall of Fame – UK Coaching Awards – UK Coach 2008 – Coach of the Year – Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association (CWSA) 2008 – Coach of the Year – Athletics Canada 2008 – The Order of Ikkos, United States Olympic Committee 2008 – Coaching Association of Canada, Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award 2006 – Coaching Association of Canada, Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award 2005 – Coach of the Year – 32nd Annual Canadian Sport Awards; First Paralympic coach to ever receive this honor, this award is for all sports in Canada 2005 - Introduced to the Terry Fox Hall of Fame 2005 – Coach of the Year – Ontario Sport Awards 2004 – Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association (CWSA) – Coach of the Year 2004 – Coaching Association of Canada, Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award 2000 - Coaching Association of Canada, Wittenauer Coaching Excellence Award 1998 - Coaching Association of Canada, Wittenauer Coaching Excellence Award 1997 - Dr. Robert Jackson, Outstanding Volunteer Award, Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association 1996 - Nominated for the 3M Coaching Award. Coach of the Year 1996 - Coaching Association of Canada, Wittenauer Coaching Excellence Award 1995 - Coaching Association of Canada, Wittenauer Coaching Excellence Award 1993 - Coaching Association of Canada, Wittenauer Coaching Excellence Award 1991 - Nominated for the 3M Coaching Award. Coach of the Year 1990 - Nominated for the 25th Annual Air Canada Amateur Sport Awards. Coach of the Year. 1989 - Coach of the Year, Manitoba Wheelchair Sports Association, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. 1986 - Wheelrose Person of the year, Rehabilitation Group, Sweden. 1980 - First Olympic Reserve, Winter Olympics, Lake Placid, New York. 1977 - Number 10 in the world (500m), World Speed Skating Championships, Netherlands.References
External links
*http://www.insideworldparasport.biz/insideparasport/9103-no-excuses-warns-eriksson-as-gb-a-ni-team-arrive-in-new-zealand-for-athletics-world-championships *http://www.insideworldparasport.biz/insideparasport/9090-weir-aims-to-qput-down-a-markerq-as-british-contingent-departs-for-2011-ipc-athletics-world-championships *http://www.insideworldparasport.biz/blogs/232-parablog/8983-peter-eriksson-its-more-than-just-the-medals *http://insidethegames.biz/component/content/article/232-parasport/3754-top-foreign-coach-appointed-for-2012-paralympics *http://insidethegames.biz/sports/summer/athletics/5956-column-mike-rowbottom-interviews-uk-athletics-new-paralympics-head-coach-peter-eriksson {{DEFAULTSORT:Eriksson, Peter 1952 births Living people Swedish athletics coaches Sportspeople from Stockholm Swedish male speed skaters Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom Canadian Disability Hall of Fame Expatriate sports coaches Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Coaches at the 2016 Summer Olympics Paralympic coaches Paralympic athletics (track and field) coaches Paralympic coaches for Canada Coaches at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Coaches at the 2008 Summer Paralympics