Being an Olympian

At just six years old, Anna sat in front of the television watching the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games. At that moment she had no idea that it would become such a central part of her life later on.  

I watched the Olympics for the first time in 2004, I was like this seems crazy, I want to go, it became my dream.”

By that time, becoming an Olympian was only a childhood dream. Fast forward a few years and Anna would discover the sport that might just make it a possibility. 

When she was 12, Anna took part in a school tournament in air rifle shooting. The competition brought together school teams from across Denmark, with each school able to enter one team. 

"There was a big competition in 5th grade in Denmark, every school could sign up one team.”

Anna and her two teammates won the tournament. What started as a school competition quickly became something much bigger for her. She never stopped shooting after that. 

The competition itself had an amusingly straightforward name: “school shooting.” Anna still finds the name funny. 

“The name of the competition was ‘school shooting’,” she says, laughing a little. “who the hell got that idea?” 

From that first competition, shooting became a major part of Anna’s life. Today she competes in both 10-metre and 50-metre shooting and has already represented Denmark at the Olympic games in Tokyo in 2021. 

Five years after Tokyo, Anna is still active at the highest level of the sport. She continues to train and compete internationally, with the World Cup and World Championship around the corner. 

I am going to the world cup in October in Cairo and in November I will be going for the world championships in Qatar.

Her training routine shows the demands of high-performance sport. Anna practices shooting twice a week and also does regular physical workouts, either at home or in the gym. She goes to a physiotherapist as well to take care of her hands, which are crucial to the precision and consistency required in shooting. 

Alongside her athletic career, Anna is studying psychology and sports science at university. Balancing university, training and competition requires discipline, but shooting is not the only way she contributes to the sport. 

Anna has also spent years coaching younger shooters and helping develop the next generation. 

I have been coach for six years I coached twice a week, monday and wednesday but I quit for a while around april this year because it was too busy. But they really needed a coach so I started again once a week.

Her involvement in coaching gives her the opportunity to pass on the experience she has gained throughout her own career. While she continues to compete herself, she is also helping younger athletes discover the same sport that changed the direction of her own life. 

By coaching, she passes all her experience she gained throughout her career, on to a new generation of shooters. While she keeps competing herself, she also helps the young generation discover the same sport that changed the trajectory of Anna’s life so much. 

Her Olympic journey, however, did not end with Tokyo. Anna continued to pursue another Olympic appearance and worked towards qualifying for Paris 2024. She came extremely close, but ultimately missed out. 

“I really tried for Paris, but I was number three who didn’t make it, close.” 

This sport has taken Anna from a school competition to the highest ranks for any sport, the Olympic games. It has already been a very long journey for Anna with international competition, coaching, university studiesand a continued pursuit of excellence.  

The dream that began while watching the 2004 Olympics is still alive.