In this episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast, host Kay Xander Mellish delivers a humorous, conversational monologue about Denmark’s distinctive sports culture. She begins with a personal anecdote about dropping her daughter off at a handball class, then explains why Danes gravitate toward sports that suit a small nation—team handball, badminton, sailing, rowing, and table tennis—rather than Commonwealth or North‑American sports like cricket, rugby, basketball, or baseball. Mellish contrasts the size of Danish handballs with the small, soft American version and notes the extraordinary success of the Danish women’s handball team (three Olympic golds) versus the men’s team. She adds colorful observations about athletes’ dating lives as reported in supermarket tabloids. The podcast highlights Denmark’s dominance in team badminton and team table tennis, while noting the relative scarcity of elite individual athletes, which she attributes to Denmark’s egalitarian ethos that discourages elite individualism. The episode closes with sponsor credits, a plug for the How to Live in Denmark book, and subscription information.
Chapters
Hi, and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. I just dropped my daughter off at handball class today. Like most parents, I want my child to have a sport, and since we live in Denmark, her choices are Danish sports— sports that a small country can excel in. These are not Commonwealth sports like cricket or rugby or wearing fancy hats and betting on the ponies. They're also not North American sports like basketball or baseball. Now, just as an aside, Danes think professional baseball is very funny. This is because it's similar to a Danish playground game, roundball. Roundball is a simple game, and it's played by very small children. So for Danes, a professional baseball game is like watching grown men play tag or duck-duck-goose. Wearing uniforms in front of a stadium full of people. That's pretty funny. Now, when it comes to stadium sports, Danes do play soccer. They don't win very often. Denmark can't compete with Germany or Brazil. It's a small country. They also can't compete with China in swimming or diving, or the U.S. in basketball. They need Denmark-sized sports. Like team handball. Team handball is very big in Denmark, and the ball itself is big. In the U.S., where I come from, a handball is about the size of a plum, and it's very soft and squishy. Danish handballs are like grapefruits or watermelons— small ones. They're big, and they're heavy, and they're hard. And team handball is a very aggressive sport. And Danish women are much better than Danish men at it. Take what you want from that. But the Danish women's handball team has won 3 Olympic gold medals. The men's team has never won an Olympic medal. Of course, the women team handball players often form relationships with the male team handball players. Hot stuff. You can read about it in the Danish weekly tabloids available in line at your supermarket. Now, when it comes to the Olympics, Denmark also does well in sailing and rowing— all that water surrounding Denmark, all that Viking tradition— and badminton. Team badminton. The Danes are Europe's top team badminton players. Every Danish town has an athletic hall built just for badminton. Copenhagen has like a dozen. And the badminton players also date each other. And sometimes they also date the team handball players. At least, that's what the supermarket tabloids tell me. Team table tennis is also a medal winner for Denmark. That's team ping-pong. As far as I can tell, though, the team ping-pong players don't seem to get a lot of dating action. At least I don't get to read about their love lives while I'm waiting in line to buy cat food. But you'll notice that most of the sports that are popular in Denmark are team sports. Danes like to play on teams. There have been a few successful individuals— a golfer, a couple of boxers, some cyclists, uh, one female tennis player— but for a sports-mad country, There have been relatively few great individual athletes. My guess, as a foreigner, is that this is part of the Danish commitment to equality and egalitarianism and dislike of elites. To be an elite individual athlete, you have to believe that you're better than other people, and that really goes against the Danish national karma. In Denmark, In sports or in life, the individual is always less important than the team. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. This podcast is sponsored by the KXM Group. If you're a Danish company dealing with customers abroad, we make you look good in English. Music arranged by George Garvis. Subscribe to us on iTunes. See you next week. Remember, the How to Live in Denmark book is available for download on amazon.com. You can read it on any phone or tablet. All you need is the Kindle app, and the Kindle app is free. The book's not free, but it's not very expensive either. If you read the book and enjoy it, please leave a review on your local version of amazon.com. It helps other people find the book and find the podcast.
