Denmark to send biggest ever delegation to Beijing 2022

Denmark has set a new record by bringing its largest Winter Olympic delegation to the Beijing 2022, according to a statement from the Danish Embassy on Wednesday.

A total of 62 athletes - 33 male and 29 female, including one from Greenland - will compete in five sports, including ice hockey, curling, speed skating, biathlon, and Alpine skiing, the embassy said in a statement.

"The Danish athletes have proven that they belong to the sports elites with their qualification to the Winter Olympics 2022. All of them are looking forward to the international games with excitement, and we cannot wait to prove ourselves in Beijing," said Mikkel Sansone hrgaard, Danish Sports Confederation (DIF) chef de mission for the Danish Olympics delegation to Beijing.

"I look very much forward to following the Danish and Greenlandic athletes in the Beijing Winter Olympics and cheering them on; the highest number that we have ever had competing at a Winter Olympics. I am sure they will do very well. I wish all participating athletes in the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games the best of luck," said Danish Ambassador to China Thomas strup M ller, according to the statement.

The Beijing Winter Games will witness the Olympic debut of both Denmark men's and women's national ice hockey teams. Among all the members of the delegation, the 20-year-old biathlete Ukaleq Slettemark is the first female athlete to participate in the Winter Olympics from Greenland.

"I warmly congratulate the Danish and Greenlandic athletes for participating in the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games - a lifelong dream and career highlight for many. It is with particular pride and joy that I look forward to following the Greenlandic athlete Ukaleq Slettemark. I am sure that she will do very well in representing the Greenlandic spirit," said Jacob S. Isbosethsen, head of the Greenlandic Representation in Beijing, according to the statement.

Denmark participated in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time in 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. During the previous 14 participations, Denmark won one medal in Nagano in 1998, where the Danish female curling team snatched an Olympic silver.

Team Denmark's first event at the Beijing Winter Olympics will be the match against the host nation China in women's ice hockey tournament on February 4.