Denmark: A nation of winners – and good losers

BY POUL KJAR

At this summer’s Olympic Games Denmark scooped seven medals, including Gold in a very dramatic sailing event which symbolised the Danish winner mindset. But the relaxed Danish competition mentality also gained medals in China – reflecting a society where losing is not a catastrophe.

Despite a dramatic start with a broken mast, Denmark’s 49’er crew, Martin Kirketerp and Jonas Warrer, won Gold at the Olympic Games in Beijing. Photos: Scanpix Denmark.

With a tally of seven medals, the Olympic Games in Beijing brought Denmark one of its best results of modern times.

It makes Danes happy. Because it is not only the athletes on the water or on the cycle track that demonstrate strength to the world. The entire nation is jubilant – just as it is for any other country that wins medals. Achievements at the Olympic Games and other major sporting events tell a bigger story about a nation and its people.

Denmark’s medals at the Olympic Games in Beijing were, in line with tradition, won mainly on water – in rowing and sailing. In rowing, the Danish coxless four won gold; the ’golden fours’ have now powered to victory with changing crews in the last four Olympic Games, with the exception of Sydney in 2000, when they had to settle for bronze. But it was Denmark’s gold medal in sailing, in the 49’er event in Beijing, that particularly highlighted the Danish winner mentality and spontaneity.

The Olympic Games in Beijing also showed the Danish ability to handle defeat, reflecting a sportsmanship model and a society which focuses on winning, but at the same time teaches athletes how to cope with defeat.

But first the story and the drama of the gold medal in sailing.

FREEDOM WITH RESPONSIBILITY
Before the Olympic sailing competition started in the Chinese city of Qingdao, Denmark’s 49’er crew of Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp were not thought likely to gain a place on the podium. But they surprised everybody in the opening races, and in the final they just needed to achieve seventh place out of ten starting boats to win gold.

On the day of the final, the Danes are the first to put their boat in the rough water, with wind gusts of up to 15 knots and foaming whitecaps on the waves. Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp have just set the spinnaker emblazoned with the Danish flag when they are hit by a high wave. The eight metre tall mast snaps like a matchstick.

There are 20 minutes to the start, and four years to the next Olympic Games.

The Danish coach, Jesper Bank – an Olympic Games participant from 1984 to 2000 with three medals in the Soling class – is assisting the Danish 49’er from an inflatable boat, and immediately heads for the referee’s boat to ask for the start to be postponed. But the referee waves him away. So Jesper Bank gets the damaged boat and its crew towed to land, where they are met by two other Danish participants in the Olympic Games. Having grasped the seriousness of the situation, they had rapidly brought the 49’er’s reserve mast. But the damage is too extensive, and it will take several hours to get the boat ready for competition. So the question is: What now? Well, let’s see if we can borrow a boat from one of the nations that have not qualified for the finals, say the sailors, and zoom off.

Henrik Brandt, director of the Danish Institute for Sports Studies, says:

It is typically Danish that you do not necessarily wait for instructions from above, but make decisions when it is necessary. Doing so does not mean any lack of respect for rules and other people. We simply have a basic trust in giving people freedom with responsibility. We basically trust each other and are used to organising things without being told from above what to do.

NEVER GIVE UP
Back in port at Qingdao, the Danes find the Croatian boat. They phone the Croatian delegation, which without hesitation gives them permission to borrow the boat. Shortly after they observe at a distance that the final is being started. They now have four minutes to cross the starting line, otherwise they will be disqualified. Coach Jesper Bank has sailed ahead and has informed the referee that the Danes are sailing under the Croatian flag. The referee’s stop watch indicates 3 minutes 57 seconds when they pass the start line – the field is about 700 metres ahead.

Jonas Warrer and Martin Kirketerp now take a decision which will turn out to be worth gold. They do not want to pressure the boat too much, and so avoid setting the spinnaker. Their hope is that the others will raise the stakes too high and capsize in the rough weather.

At the head of the race, Italy, Australia and Spain are vying for gold. Shortly before the line, the American boat capsizes, followed by the Brazilian boat. It means that the Danish boat with its Croatian flag is now in 8th position, only one place away from the gold-winning 7th position. And then the Danish boat capsizes. An entire nation holds its breath, until the boat is righted and sails across the line. Ten minutes later the result comes. The Austrian boat did not cross the line. Denmark is placed 7th, and so wins GOLD.

“What looked like becoming a typical Danish ’decent defeat’ turned into something which is also typically Danish in relation to our ability to manage internationally as a small nation. Instead of giving up, the Danes acted extremely fast. They improvised and it ended with a gold medal,” concludes Henrik Brandt.

A disappointed Mark O. Madsen after being defeated in the first round of wrestling. Photo: Scanpix Denmark.

“NOBODY DIED”
It was not only the Danish winner mentality that gained gold for Denmark at the games in Beijing. The Danish front-runner in wrestling, Mark O. Madsen, was a great disappointment at the Games, but triumphed in the discipline ’relaxed competition mentality’. Mark O. Madsen has won medals at the last three world championships in his weight class, and was reckoned to be Denmark’s best hope for gold.

But in Beijing, Varteres Samugashev of Russia squeezes the air out of the Dane in the first round. The referee lifts the arm of the victorious Russian – and Mark O. Madsen leaves the wrestling hall in disappointment. But to a waiting sports journalist’s question: “How do you feel?” - Mark O. Madsen replies matter-of-factly: “Fine. Nobody died”.

The answer reflects how Danish sport is historically based on voluntarism, amateur sports concepts and engaging in sport as a pleasurable spare time activity.

Henrik Brandt of the Danish Institute for Sports Studies says:

“Historically there has been widespread scepticism in Denmark against professional sports. For instance, the Danish bronze-medal football team in London in 1948 was the only one in the tournament to appear without numbers on their backs, because the Danish Football Association had the opinion that the players were ’amateurs’ and not ’circus horses’. Nevertheless most Danes very much want to win of course, but not at any price. It is not that important, although naturally there are exceptions to the rule.”

THE DANISH ELITE MODEL
Although athletes in Denmark today make a professional living from their sports, they do not drop down in Danish society if they fail to win medals, or lose motivation for practising elite sports. The Danish elite sport law has elements of the more relaxed competition mentality and has been based on the Danish welfare society model, where the state takes care of the weakest and provides unemployment benefit to people who lose their jobs.

The state elite sports organisation, Team Danmark, is thus obliged not only to develop the sporting support apparatus, but also to see to it that talented individuals get a proper education in parallel with their career. And although elite sports make increasing demands in Denmark as they do everywhere else, Danish elite athletes are generally better educated than the rest of the population.

In other words, athletes have something to fall back on if the mast breaks or a Russian gets in the way of the medal dream.