Lasse Granqvist

Lars Ivar "Lasse" Granqvist (born 25 October 1967) is a Swedish sports journalist. He was active for Sveriges Radio between August 1987 and 15 January 2013 commentating football with expert commentator Ralf Edström and ice hockey with expert commentator Lars-Gunnar Jansson. He is famous for his quick commentary and the clarity of his voice. and grew up on Backvägen in Solna. His father, Karl-Ivar, co-created "The Bench" – a place at Solna Centrum shopping mall where men gathered to hang out while their wives were shopping. Since it was forbidden to talk about politics and religion, much talk on "The Bench" came to be about sports. As a child in Solna, Granqvist used to sit with big headphones and listen to Sportextra sports show in Sveriges Radio P4. At the same time he made own notes. With different color pencils he recorded goals, penalties and other important events in the ice hockey matches. When there were no matches, he and a friend made up own onces. When the kids in the yard had a cycling competition, Granqvist used to jump on a table in the sandbox and comment on the race even though he did not see the cyclists. As they approached, he got put together a summary. When Granqvist went out with a car with his mom and dad, he commented on the competition between red and blue cars.

Lasse Granqvist was reported to the Swedish Broadcasting Authority for his commentating of the Sweden-Belarus game in the 2002 Winter Olympics. All complaints were later rejected. When Sportextra celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2011 with a vote on the best sports quotes of all time, four of Granqvist's quotes was voted among the top seven. Granqvist worked 25 years at Radiosporten – and 13 parallel years with both radio and television – before leaving the radio to work on television when he switched to C More Entertainment and TV4.

Personal life Granqvist is chairman of the Swedish Sports Academy Nomination Jury and member number 84 of the Swedish Sports Academy. Lukas Bonnier's Grand Prize for Journalism (2013)