# Joachim B. Olsen

Joachim Brøchner Olsen (born 31 May 1977) is a Danish former 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.

## Biography

Olsen was born in Aalborg. He went to the Sct. Mariæ Skole [da] in Aalborg from 1984 to 1994. In 1998, hebecame a student at the Nørresundby Gymnasium & HF [da]. He then studied history for four years at the University of Idaho from 1999 to 2002.
Olsen participated in the Unibet Open in Prague in 2010.
He married Karen Westergaard [da] in 2013. They have two children. The couple divorced in 2022.

## Athletic career

Olsen began practicing athletics in his teens in the late 1980s for the Aalborg AK. Olsen 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 the University of Idaho, where he was coached by Tim Taylor.
Olsen achieved his first national victory at the age of 16 during the Danish National Indoor Youth Championships. The following year, at 17, while still in the youth category, he claimed both the national titles in shot put (16.08 meters) and discus throw (56.88 meters). Transitioning to the junior category in 1995, he clinched the national championship in shot put, using a 6 kg implement, both indoors (14.23 meters) and outdoors (15.17 meters).
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, 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, 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.
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 physical condition would not allow it. He suffered a slipped disc in April 2009.

## Political career

After retiring from athletics in 2009, Olsen transitioned into politics. The same year, he backed Nicolai Wammen, from the Social Democrats, in Aarhus' municipal elections. A prominent Danish politician, Anders Samuelsen, encouraged Olsen to collaborate with the Liberal Alliance party, which subsequently nominated Olsen for the Folketing elections in 2011. Olsen won a seat in the Folketing with a total result of 1932 votes.
In 2015, Olsen was re-elected to the Folketing with 4259 votes.
As part of his campaign for the 2019 general election, Olsen placed his ad on adult website Pornhub. Olsen failed to gain the necessary to continue in the general election.

## Achievements

| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
| Representing Denmark ||||||
| 1996 | World Junior Championships | Sydney, Australia | 23rd (q) | Discus | 46.26 m |
| 1999 | European U23 Championships | Gothenburg, Sweden | 2nd | Shot put | 19.50 m |
| 1999 | European U23 Championships | Gothenburg, Sweden | 11th | Discus | 54.97 m |
| 1999 | 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 |
| 2002 | European Championships | Munich, Germany | 2nd | Shot put | 21.16 m |
| 2003 | World Indoor Championships | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 8th | Shot put | 20.12 m |
| 2003 | World Championships | Paris, France | 9th (q) | Shot put | 20.14 m |
| 2004 | World Indoor Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 3rd | Shot put | 20.99 m |
| 2004 | Olympic Games | Athens, Greece | 2nd | Shot put | 21.07 m |
| 2005 | European Indoor Championships | Madrid, Spain | 1st | Shot put | 21.19 m |
| 2005 | World Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 5th | Shot put | 20.73 m |
| 2006 | World Indoor Championships | Moscow, Russia | 2nd | Shot put | 21.16 m |
| 2006 | European Championships | Gothenburg, Sweden | 2nd | Shot put | 21.09 m |
| 2007 | European Indoor Championships | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 3rd | Shot put | 20.55 m |
| 2007 | World Championships | Osaka, Japan | 4th (q) | Shot put | 20.62 m |
| 2008 | Olympic Games | Beijing, China | 22nd (q) | Shot put | 19.74 m |