The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Denmark

This page contains a list of the greatest Danish Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 24 of which were born in Denmark. This makes Denmark the birth place of the 40th most number of Athletes behind Lithuania, and Nigeria.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Danish Athletes of all time. This list of famous Danish Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Danish Athletes.

1. Niels Holst-Sørensen (1922 - 2023)

With an HPI of 55.22, Niels Holst-Sørensen is the most famous Danish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages on wikipedia.

Niels Holst-Sørensen (19 December 1922 – 24 October 2023) was a Danish athlete and air force officer, and a centenarian. He served as the commander-in-chief of the Royal Danish Air Force from 1970 to 1982, and as Denmark's military representative to NATO from 1982 to 1986. He won gold and silver medals at the 1946 European Athletics Championships and served as a member of the International Olympic Committee from 1977 to 2002.

2. Viggo Jensen (1874 - 1930)

With an HPI of 53.01, Viggo Jensen is the 2nd most famous Danish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Alexander Viggo Jensen (born 22 June 1874 in Copenhagen, Denmark; died 2 November 1930 in Copenhagen, Denmark) was a Danish weightlifter, sport shooter, gymnast, and athlete. He was the first Danish and Nordic Olympic champion, at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. The first weightlifting event held was the two-handed lift, in a style now known as the clean and jerk. Jensen and Launceston Elliot of Great Britain and Ireland finished the competition tied at 111.5 kilograms, though the judges declared Jensen had performed the lift with better form and would be awarded first place. The British delegation protested, resulting in more attempts being given both lifters to improve their scores. Neither did and therefore Jensen retained first place, but he had injured his shoulder in the extra attempts. That injury hampered Jensen's efforts in the one-handed lift, the snatch. He was able to lift only 57.0 kilograms to Elliot's 71.0 kilograms, taking second place in the event. Jensen competed in the shot put, placing fourth. He was not among the top four in the discus throw, placing sixth. In the gymnastics competitions, Jensen entered the rope climbing event. He did not finish the climb, placing fourth behind the two Greeks who did reach the top of the 14 metre rope and Fritz Hofmann, who had gotten higher than Jensen. He was ahead of Launceston Elliot in the event. He also competed in the two rifle events. In the military rifle, Jensen placed sixth with a score of 1,640 points and 30 hits of 40 shots. The free rifle was more successful for him, as he finished third at 1,305 points on 31 hits. His scores for each string of 10 shots were 392, 423, 280, and 210.

3. Edgar Aabye (1865 - 1941)

With an HPI of 52.34, Edgar Aabye is the 3rd most famous Danish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Edgar Lindenau Aabye (14 September 1865 – 30 April 1941) was a Danish athlete and journalist who earned a gold medal in the tug of war at the age of 34 in the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, after joining the team as a last-minute substitute. Aabye was an accomplished athlete who had previously won a Danish championship in swimming (1896) and been a competitor in rowing and cycling. Aabye joined the team which then competed in the only tug-of-war contest, defeating the French team for the gold medal. Initially, Aabye was not a member of the tug-of-war team but was working at the Paris Olympics as a journalist for the Politiken newspaper. When a member of the combined Dano-Swedish tug of war team was injured, the team asked Aabye to fill in as a last-minute substitute. He was the nation's first sports journalist as he worked for the broadsheet Politiken from 1892 until 1935. He had previously studied theology and taught history and geography at a middle school.

4. Karen Harup (1924 - 2009)

With an HPI of 51.12, Karen Harup is the 4th most famous Danish Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Karen Margrethe Harup Petersen (20 November 1924 – 9 July 2009) was a Danish swimmer. She competed in four events at the 1948 Summer Olympics and won three medals: a gold in the 100 m backstroke and silvers in the 400 m and 4 × 100 m freestyle, placing fourth in the 100 m freestyle. She won three more gold medals at the 1947 European Championships. During her career she held 30 national titles and set two world records in freestyle relay events. In 1949, she retired from competitions and started a five decades long career of a swimming coach. In 1975, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

5. Lis Hartel (1921 - 2009)

With an HPI of 49.38, Lis Hartel is the 5th most famous Danish Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Lis Hartel (March 14, 1921 – February 12, 2009) was an Olympic equestrian competitor from Denmark. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, Hartel was one of four women who were the first to compete in modern equestrian sports at the Summer Olympics, also including Ida von Nagel, representing Germany; Elsa Christophersen, from Norway; and Marjorie Haines, from the United States. Hartel became the first female equestrian to win a medal in individual dressage.

6. Charles Winckler (1867 - 1932)

With an HPI of 48.56, Charles Winckler is the 6th most famous Danish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Charles Gustav Wilhelm Winckler (April 9, 1867 in Frederiksberg – December 17, 1932 in Frederiksberg) was a Danish athlete and tug of war competitor who participated at the 1900 Summer Olympics. He finished tenth in the shot put event and eighth in the discus throw event. He was also part of the Dano-Swedish tug of war team which won the gold medal against opponents France.

7. Ernst Schultz (1879 - 1906)

With an HPI of 48.55, Ernst Schultz is the 7th most famous Danish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Ernst Ludvig Emanuel Schultz (15 May 1879 – 20 June 1906) was a Danish sprinter who won a bronze medal in the 400 m event at the 1900 Summer Olympics. In the 1898-99 athletics season, Schultz had set Danish records in the 200 metres and quarter-mile distances and in 1899 he won the 150 metre national title when running for the Københavns IF club. The following year, just after his 21st birthday, he traveled to Paris, France to participate in the 1900 Summer Olympics, Schultz was the youngest of the 13 man team from Denmark. He competed in one event the 400 metres, in the first round, although his time is unknown, he finished in second place behind American William Moloney, so qualified for the final the next day. Schultz and five Americans had qualified for the final, but the final was run on a Sunday, and due to religious reason three Americans refused to run, so running a time of 51.5 seconds Schultz came last of the three finalist and won the bronze medal behind Maxie Long and Bill Holland. Later in the year with two other young men they founded Hellerup IK, which Schultz was chairman for the first year. Besides athletics Schultz also competed in rowing and association football, then on 20 June 1906, just one month and five days after his 27th birthday he drowned while trying to rescue his rowing partner 20 year old footballer Thorald Petersen Høyen when their boat capsized in the Roskilde Fjord.

8. Eugen Schmidt (1862 - 1931)

With an HPI of 48.21, Eugen Schmidt is the 8th most famous Danish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Eugen Stahl Schmidt (17 February 1862 in Copenhagen, Denmark – 7 October 1931 in Aalborg, Denmark) was a Danish shooter, athlete, and tug of war competitor. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens and at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris.

9. Karen Hoff (1921 - 2000)

With an HPI of 48.19, Karen Hoff is the 9th most famous Danish Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Karen Hoff (29 May 1921 – 29 February 2000) was a Danish sprint canoeist who competed in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She became the first female Olympic champion in the sport of canoeing when she won the gold medal in the K-1 500 m event at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Karen also won two medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with a gold in K-2 500 m in 1948 and a silver in K-1 500 m in 1950.

10. Hans Jacob Nielsen (1899 - 1967)

With an HPI of 47.03, Hans Jacob Nielsen is the 10th most famous Danish Athlete. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Hans Jacob Nielsen (2 September 1899 in Næstved – 6 February 1967 in Aalborg) was a Danish featherweight and lightweight boxer who competed in the 1920s. He was reigning world champion between 1924 and 1928 after winning the gold medal in boxing at the 1924 Summer Olympics in the lightweight category, defeating Alfredo Copello in the final. His first Olympic appearance was at the 1920 Antwerp Games when he was eliminated in the second round of the featherweight class after losing his fight to James Cater. At the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928, Nielsen tried to defend his Olympic title in the lightweight division but lost in the semifinal to the eventual gold medalist Carlo Orlandi. Nielsen also lost the bronze medal bout to Gunnar Berggren and thus finished fourth.

People

Pantheon has 83 people classified as Danish athletes born between 1862 and 2001. Of these 83, 61 (73.49%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Danish athletes include John Hansen, Niels Fredborg, and Bjørn Hasløv. The most famous deceased Danish athletes include Niels Holst-Sørensen, Viggo Jensen, and Edgar Aabye. As of April 2024, 59 new Danish athletes have been added to Pantheon including Kurt Helmudt, Finn Haunstoft, and Erik Hansen.