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49er, my darling Clementine
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August 9th, 2012
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This article is more than 12 years old.
Denmark secures its ninth medal of London 2012, its most successful Olympics since 1948, the last time the Games were in London
Allan Nørregaard and Peter Lang found winds of fortune in the men’s 49er class, holding on to their slender third place in the final medal round thanks to an inspired last two legs in which they jumped from seventh to third, relegating the Austrian boat to fourth by four points.
The Danes couldn’t repeat the 49er gold-winning performance of Beijing 2008, the gap between them and Australia and New Zealand was simply to great, but the bronze sees Denmark’s current nine-medal haul surpass the total of eight that it achieved in 2004 in Athens and 1968 in Mexico.
This year’s Olympics have already lived up to expectations. Team Danmark predicted seven medals six months ago and with nine, as of Wednesday, they have out-performed both Sweden (seven) and Norway (three) – much to their neighbours’ consternation. Denmark sits 23rd in the medal rankings and rank even better in terms of medals per capita, where they are in the top five along with New Zealand, Jamaica, Slovenia and Grenada.
And there is plenty of evidence that suggests another solid medal haul in Rio in 2016. While several of the medallists are still very young – Lasse Norman Hansen, who brought home the gold in the ominium cycling, is only 20 – there’s plenty of young talent out there too. Badminton star Victor Axelsen is 18 and swimmer Mie Ø Nielsen, who won two gold medals and one silver medal at the Junior European Championships last year, is just 15.
But while Rio could be a great place for Danish Olympians in four year’s time, there’s still no place like London.
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