Joachim Olsen

2006

Joachim Olsen

Medal record
Men's Athletics
Competitor for  Denmark
Olympic Games
Silver	2004 Athens	Shot put
World Indoor Championships
Bronze	2004 Budapest	Shot put
Bronze	2006 Moscow	Shot put
European Championships
Silver	2002 Munich	Shot put
Bronze	2006 Gothenburg	Shot put
European Indoor Championships
Bronze	2007 Birmingham	Shot put
Gold	2005 Madrid	Shot put
Silver	2002 Vienna	Shot put

Joachim Brøchner Olsen (born 31 May 1977 in Aalborg, Denmark) is a Danish politician and former world class shot putter. He was elected to the Danish parliament at the 2011 election, representing the Liberal Alliance in the Greater Copenhagen constituency.

As an athlete, he represented Århus 1900.

With ten straight international finals, Joachim holds the longest string of appearances in finals at Olympic, World and European Championships among throwers.

From October 2003, Olsen was coached by former olympic finalist Vesteinn Hafsteinsson. From February 2007 until Joachim B. Olsen ended his career in July 2009, Olsen was coached by Simon Patrick Stewart.^[1]

Athletic career

In his teens Joachim primarily focused on the discus throw, but after switching shot put technique from the glide style to rotational style, he improved dramatically during his four years at University of Idaho, where he was coached by Tim Taylor.

Although he appeared at the World Junior Championships in Sydney 1996, where he threw the Discus, it was at the U23 European Championships in Gothenburg in 1999 he made his first international impact, winning a silver medal. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Joachim B. Olsen did not qualify for the final. Nevertheless he received worldwide attention after he wrote in a chat room that the winner of the final, Arsi Harju had failed a doping test. The rumour was false, and the incident caused the Danish National Olympic Committee to send Joachim B. Olsen home prior to the closing of the Games.

At the 2001 World Championships in Athletics Joachim B. Olsen qualified for his first international final. Since then he has qualified for every final at Olympic, World and European Championships.

In 2002 Olsen won the silver medal at the European Championships outdoor as well as indoor. In 2003 a hand injury held him back, but a revised training plan removed the pain in his wrist. Thus Olsen was ready for a comeback in 2004, and at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships he won a Bronze medal - a placement he repeated at the Olympic Games in Athens. But because of a positive doping of the gold medalist Yuri Bilonog (Ukraine), which caused the cancellation of the medal, Olsen inherited the silver medal after the announcement of redistributing medals. ^[2]

On 6 November 2005 Olsen injured his right ankle during practise. Several ligaments were either torn or severely damaged. On 6 February 2006 he announced, that the injury had healed sufficiently for him to compete again at highest level. A month later, at the World Indoor Championships, he managed to win a bronze medal with a throw of 21.16 metres.

On 8 August 2008 at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, Olsen was the flagbearer for Denmark. He failed to reach the final.

In 2008 Joachim Olsen became well known in the Danish publicity by his participation in, and winning of, the fifth season of the Danish version of Dancing with the Stars.

On 22 July 2009, he announced his withdrawal from shot putting, saying that while he had a dream of competing at the 2012 Summer Olympics, his physique would not allow it.^[3] He suffered a slipped disc in April 2009.

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Denmark
1996	World Junior Championships	Sydney, Australia	23rd (q)	Discus throw	46.26 m
1999	European U23 Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	2nd	Shot put	19.50 m
	World Championships	Seville, Spain	22nd (q)	Shot put	19.13 m
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	17th (q)	Shot put	19.41 m
2001	World Championships	Edmonton, Canada	11th	Shot put	20.38 m
2002	European Indoor Championships	Vienna, Austria	2nd	Shot put	21.23 m
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	2nd	Shot put	21.16 m
2003	World Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	8th	Shot put	20.12 m
	World Championships	Paris, France	9th (q)	Shot put	20.14 m[4]
2004	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	3rd	Shot put	20.99 m
	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	2nd	Shot put	21.07 m
2005	European Indoor Championships	Madrid, Spain	1st	Shot put	21.19 m
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	5th	Shot put	20.73 m
2006	World Indoor Championships	Moscow, Russia	2nd	Shot put	21.16 m
	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	2nd	Shot put	21.09 m
2007	European Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	3rd	Shot put	20.55 m
	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	4th (q)	Shot put	20.62 m[5]
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	22nd (q)	Shot put	19.74 m

References

External links

• Personal website
• Danish Athletics Federation - profile - Joachim Olsen
• University of Idaho - Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame - Joachim Olsen
• sports-reference

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