Joachim Olsen

Joachim B. Olsen (born May 31, 1977 in Aalborg, Denmark) is one of the world's leading shot putters.

He represents Århus 1900.

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

Joachim is coached by the former olympic finalist Vesteinn Hafsteinsson, who started working with Joachim in October 2003.

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.

On November 6 2005 Olsen injured his right ankle during practise. Several ligaments were either torn or severely damaged. On February 6 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 August 8 2008 at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, Olsen was the flagbearer for Denmark. Due to injuries it was his only second competitive event of the year and he failed to reach the final.

External links

* [http://www.tilastopaja.net/db/atm.php?ID=20938/ Tilastopaja]
* [http://www.dafital.dk/profil.asp?id=7 Danish Athletics Federation] - profile - Joachim Olsen
* [https://admin.xosn.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=17100&ATCLID=1469409 University of Idaho - Vandal Athletics Hall of Fame] - Joachim Olsen