Ben Hamilton
August 12th, 2021

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In years to come, it will be a trivia question to rival Dennis Bergkamp being named after Denis Law. 

Gold medal-winning Danish cyclist Michael Mørkøv, who together with Lasse Norman Hansen triumphed in the madison on Saturday, is naming his son after a fellow top-of-the-podium Olympian: badminton player Viktor Axelsen.

The 36-year-old confirmed to DR that “there will be a Viktor in December, and he is named after him, who won a gold medal a week ago”.

Morkøv also named his first son after an ‘Olympian’ – no not fellow cyclist Frederik Rodenberg Madsen, who caused a storm when he blamed a British cyclist for a crash in the semi-finals of the pursuit, but Crown Prince Frederik, Denmark’s representative on the International Olympic Committee. 

READ MORE: English grudge match continues: Firebombing, Brexit, Euro 2020 and now at the Olympics!

Axelsen’s spirit urged them on
“I have found huge inspiration watching Viktor Axelsen during the Olympics. I have watched his badminton matches with great joy and seen how he has swept his opponents off the field,” explained Morkøv. 

“In every one of the 50 km in the final, the only thing I thought about was being as cool as him when he played his final. That was us, and we also won with the last serve.”

In response, Axelsen took to Twitter to write: “A gigantic honor and completely wild. Michael and Lasse are the governors.”

Norway from nowhere
But while Mørkøv and Hansen got Denmark off to a flying start on Saturday, the Danish men’s handball team could not match their heroics in the final, losing 23-25 to France, and this meant Denmark finished behind their Scandinavian cousins in the final medal table.

With two golds on the final weekend, Norway powered past both Denmark and Sweden to finish top. It was a vast improvement for Winter Olympics specialists Norway, as they finished 74th in 2016.

Sweden, meanwhile, finished two places above Denmark with the same number of golds but more silvers, and Finland 85th with just two bronzes.

Outshone by fellow Scandis
For Denmark, finishing 25th with three golds, four silvers and four bronzes was an improvement on its 28th, 30th and 30th places at the previous three games.

But while Denmark can now boast the world’s best men’s badminton player in Viktor Axelsen, it’s been outshone by Norway’s athleticism on the track (men’s 400-metre hurdles in a new world record and 1,500 metres in an Olympic best) and Sweden’s sturdiness in the field (men’s discus and pole vault).

And things will only get worse at the Winter Olympics in Beijing next February!