Danish ice hockey ushered in its Olympic debut Four pairs of brothers and sisters fulfilled their dreams in Beijing

Beijing, January 30 (Xinhua) -- The Danish men's and women's ice hockey teams will make their Olympic debuts at the Beijing Winter Olympics, and four pairs of brothers and sisters will lead the Danish team to the ice rink.

"It's really exciting to be on the Olympic stage together." Josephine Jacobson, the 30-year-old captain of the Danish women's ice hockey team, and her brother Julian Jacobson, who is four years older than her, will join her in the Beijing Winter Olympics.

"When Julian started on the ice, shortly after I was born, I would go to the ice rink to watch him play. As soon as I learned to walk, I put on my skates and played around. Josephine recalled that when the brothers and sisters were young, they used to play street hockey together, one goalkeeping and one attacking. The competitive spirit of the brothers and sisters makes each contest a "dragon fight".

Denmark joined the International Hockey Federation in 1946, but waited 75 years to get its first ticket to ice hockey at the Winter Olympics. In the second half of last year, they completed two leaps from 0 to 1, ushering in the "highlight" moment of Danish ice hockey - in August 2021, the Danish men's ice hockey team defeated Norway in the last Winter Olympic qualification match to qualify for the competition; in November 2021, in the women's ice hockey qualification tournament, Denmark locked in the beijing Winter Olympics with the first place in the group.

In the past 20 years, Danish men's ice hockey has had a certain "jianghu status" in the top group of the Ice Hockey World Championships, but Danish women's ice has only participated in the top group competition once since 1992, and has ranked at the bottom of the women's ice hockey World Championships in Calgary, Canada, and has been relegated from the international top group.

"Participating in the Olympics has been my dream since I was a child." Josephine, who played for swedish clubs and played as a centre forward, had considered becoming a Swedish citizen for the Olympic Games.

"I've always believed that the Olympics will come, and as I get older, that confidence grows. Today, we have. Josephine said.

The other three relatives in the Danish team are Emma Russell and Patrick Russell, Josephine Asperup and Matthias Martini Asperup, Mia Bo Hansen and Matthias Hansen, who will also travel to the Olympics.

Josephine said he hopes that this time the valuable Winter Olympic qualification can become a booster for the development of Danish ice hockey. "We want to tell young girls in the country that we have the ability to create opportunities."

"The Danish men's ice hockey team has come a long way over the past few years and I hope the women's ice hockey team will be able to go all the way to glory in the future, which will be an extraordinary task." Josephine said. (End)