Denmark at the 2012 Summer Olympics |
|||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IOC code | DEN | ||||||||
NOC | National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark | ||||||||
Website |
www |
||||||||
in London | |||||||||
Competitors | 113 in 17 sports | ||||||||
Flag bearer |
Kim Wraae Knudsen (opening) Allan Nørregaard (closing) |
||||||||
Medals Ranked 29th |
|
||||||||
Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
Other related appearances | |||||||||
1906 Intercalated Games |
Denmark competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark sent the nation's second largest delegation to the Games after the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. A total of 113 athletes, 63 men and 50 women, competed in 17 sports, although two additional athletes played as team reserves. Handball was the only team-based sport in which Denmark was represented in at these Olympic games.
The Danish team included several past Olympic champions, one of them defending (the men's lightweight coxless fours team, led by veteran rowers Eskild Ebbesen and Morten Jørgensen). Notable athletes included tennis player Caroline Wozniacki, and swimmer Lotte Friis, who won a bronze medal in Beijing. Kim Wraae Knudsen, silver medalist in the men's sprint kayak doubles in Beijing, was the nation's flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
Team Danmark and the Danish Sports' Union (Dansk Idræts-Forbund, DIF) set a goal of eight medals. Team Danmark and DIF also believed Denmark had the best chances of winning a medal in wrestling, shooting, cycling, handball, the equestrian events, rowing, athletics, badminton and sailing. At the end of the Games, Denmark had reached beyond the medal target by a single point.
Denmark left London with a total of 9 medals (2 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze), this being considered its most successful Olympics in 64 years. The gold medals were won by rowers Rasmus Quist Hansen and Mads Rasmussen in the men's lightweight double sculls, and track cyclist Lasse Norman Hansen in the first ever men's omnium. Other medals were awarded to the team in sailing, shooting, badminton, and women's rowing. Several Danish athletes narrowly missed out on the medal standings in their sporting events, including two competitors in the Greco-Roman wrestling.