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Three-gold Paralympic haul a slight improvement on 2016

Ben Hamilton
September 6th, 2021


This article is more than 3 years old.

Dressage rider Tobias Thorning Jørgensen leads the way with two victories

Denmark won five medals at the Paralympic Games – its equal lowest ever tally since its debut at the games in 1976 and two short of the optimum number set by Dansk Handicap Idræts-Forbund.

However, its total of three golds was its most since 2008. Still, it was a long way short of the heady days of the 1980s, when Denmark won 30, 23 and 12 golds between 1984 and 1992.

Denmark finished 40th in the final medal table, 10 and 11 places ahead of its showing at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics respectively.

And perhaps more importantly, it was the top Nordic nation, leaving Norway (47), Sweden (50) and Finland (52) in its wake.

A Danish double gold-medallist … you don’t get to say that very often (photo: (photo: DIF Facebook page)

 

Double gold for dressage star
Denmark chiefly owed its improved number of golds to one performer. 

Dressage star Tobias Thorning Jørgensen, 21, aboard his grey mare Jolene Hill, won a double gold in the championship and freestyle test grade III events.

Jørgensen talks about his horse like she’s a character on ‘Eastenders’.

“She’s a real mare and if I don’t ask her first, she gives me the finger and says: ‘You can do something else’. But if I ask her correctly she’ll be there and will go through fire for me,” he told media.

Jørgensen wasn’t the only debutant to reach the top of the podium. Taekwondo star Lisa Gjessing, 43, impressed everyone, not least herself, on her way to victory.

Gold for Lisa Gjessing (photo: DIF Facebook page)

 

Long wait continues in long jump 
Elsewhere, long-jumper Daniel Wagner took his third successive bronze medal. 

At the age of 28, time is running out, and this time around he was denied in the cruellest of fashions. 

A first round leap of 7.07 metres placed him top of the leaderboard, where he remained for 90 minutes.  But then in the sixth and final round, two of his competitors jumped further.

Table-tennis player Peter Rosenmeier, 37, a defending champion, also lost out at the death, losing in the final to earn silver.


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Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

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At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”