Björn Rickard "Ricky" Bruch (; 2 July 1946 – 30 May 2011) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Career

Bruch was born in

Örgryte Örgryte is one of the 21 ''stadsdelsnämndsområden'' (a kind of district often translated as borough) of Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden. It is a largely upper middle class residential area, just to the east of the city centre. It has a populati ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, grew up in

Skåne Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...

, and was later a long-time resident of

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

. His main discipline was the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

, and later the discus, as he joined the ranks of the world's greatest in the early 1970s. The highlight of his career came in 1972, when he equalled the world record of 68.40 metres at the ''

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ''Da ...

'' games in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

and, later that season, won a bronze medal at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

.Richard Bruch 1946–2011
storagrabbar.se Throughout his career, Bruch was known as being both outspoken and controversial. He readily changed his opinions on various matters, and represented around a dozen athletics teams, including his own IK Diskus. Bruch was a solid athlete, but failed to achieve the greatest success possible in major international events. Arguably, Bruch's greatest successes were

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

in 1972 along with

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

and bronze at the

European Championships in Athletics The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

. Bruch equaled the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in 1972 with a throw of 68.40 metres. His personal best (71.26 metres in November 1984) puts him ninth in the all-time performers list. As well as achieving his sporting career and his turbulent personal life, Bruch also acted in light-entertainment films, debuting in the Italian action comedy film ''

Anche gli angeli tirano di destro ''Charleston'' (original title: ''Anche gli angeli tirano di destro'') is a 1974 Italian buddy comedy film written and directed by Enzo Barboni. The film is the sequel of '' Even Angels Eat Beans'', with Ricky Bruch (at his film debut) who rep ...

'' and appearing in a minor role in the film version of ''

Ronia the Robber's Daughter ''Ronia, the Robber's Daughter'' ( Swedish: ''Ronja rövardotter'') is a children's fantasy book by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, first published in 1981. The book has been adapted as a prize-winning 1984 film, a Danish and a German musi ...

''. After Bruch retired, he admitted to having used doping throughout his career. Despite this, he never tested positive during his career. His autobiography ''Gladiatorns kamp'' (''The Gladiator's Battle'') was printed in 1990, and an anthology of his poetry, ''Själ och kropp: Dikter'' (''Body and Soul: Poems''), has also been published. After a few years away from the glare of publicity in the early 1980s, he returned to the spotlight at the age of 38 in the autumn of 1984 – returning to form, he managed a number of throws over the 70 metre mark. He achieved his personal record of 71.26 metres in November 1984 at a competition in

. This mark stood as the Swedish record for 33 years until

Daniel Ståhl Daniel Ståhl (born 27 August 1992) is a Swedish athlete specialising in the discus throw. Ståhl has crowned a fine career winning gold medals both 2019 at the World Championships and 2021 in Tokyo at the Olympic Games. Career He competed at t ...

surpassed it in 2019. At the Swedish Championships in

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås ...

in 1985, Bruch was involved in a dispute with Anders Borgström, the team captain at the time. Bruch's willingness to speak his mind resulted, effectively, in his disqualification. However, he continued to appear in the media from time to time, most recently in a

TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to: *TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station *TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network **TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station *South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...

documentary from July 2005. Bruch died on 30 May 2011 from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

Bibliography

* * * *

Filmography

*1974 – '' Charleston'' *1974 – ''Även änglar kan slå en rak höger'' *1978 – ''Dante – akta're för Hajen!'' *1978 – ''I Skyttens tegn'' *1984 – ''

Ronia, the Robber's Daughter ''Ronia, the Robber's Daughter'' ( Swedish: ''Ronja rövardotter'') is a children's fantasy book by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, first published in 1981. The book has been adapted as a prize-winning 1984 film, a Danish and a German musi ...

'' *1985 – ''Själen är större än världen'' *1993 – ''

Drömkåken ''Drömkåken'' is a Swedish comedy film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 28 October 1993, directed by Peter Dalle. The film is a remake of the 1986 Tom Hanks comedy film ''The Money Pit'', itself a remake of the 1948 Cary Grant comedy f ...

References

External links

* *
"Ricky Bruch – En svensk Muhammed Ali"

IMDB – Stefan Jarl's documentary about Ricky Bruch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruch, Ricky 1946 births 2011 deaths Doping cases in athletics Swedish male discus throwers Swedish sportspeople in doping cases Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Athletes from Gothenburg World record setters in athletics (track and field) European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)