Name Maria Akraka Role Olympic athlete | Parents Smart Akraka | |
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Children Moa Henriksson, Mica Henriksson Siblings Therese Akraka, Michael Akraka, Camilla Akraka Similar People Tord Henriksson, Malin Ewerlof‑Krepp, Patrik Sjoberg, Erica Johansson | ||
Maria Helene Henriksson Akraka (born 7 July 1966 in London, Greater London) is a Swedish entrepreneur, television host and former athlete.
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Akraka became interested in running after seeing Valerie Brisco-Hooks winning three gold medals as an Olympic track and field athlete at the 1984 Olympics. She jokingly admits that she was equally fascinated by Brisco-Hooks' hair style as her sporting accomplishment. In her early 2000s she traveled to Nigeria, were her father was coaching the national Nigerian track and field athlete team in order to train with some of the best sprinters in the world.
She has competed in four European Championships and three World Championships and in the 1992 Olympic Games in the distance 1500 metres and in 800 metres running. She retired in 2000.
Career after sport
Akraka worked previously as a host of betting company ATG's channel, Channel 75, where she interviewed Horse racing jockeys. She also worked for TV4 covering horse racing. In 2006, she started working for SVT, hosting extreme sports game show Megadrom and also covered various sports competitions such as the Olympic Games and DN Galan.
Today she works for sporting goods retailer Intersport as an adviser and is the founder and CEO of Sportcore, a career agency for former professional athletes.
During the summer of 2010, she was one of several hosts of legendary radio program Sommar.
Akraka and her husband bought an estate with an equestrian training stable in 2009. She now spends much of her time training race horses.
Personal life
Akraka is married to former triple jumper Tord Henriksson and they have two children.
She was born in London to a Swedish mother and a Nigerian father. The family moved to Sweden but her father never took to Sweden and headed back to Nigeria. She was raised by her mom in Rågsved outside Stockholm. Her father Smart Akraka is a former track and field athlete who competed in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. She has a twin brother.