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Per capita, Denmark is Europe’s Olympic champ

The Local Denmark
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Per capita, Denmark is Europe’s Olympic champ
Swimmer Pernille Blume's gold and bronze medals were two of the 15 won by Denmark. Photo: Jens Nørgaard Larsen/Scanpix

Denmark’s 15 medals at the 2016 Rio Games might have only been good enough for 28th place overall, but when you consider the Nordic nation’s small size things look a lot better.

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According to calculations made by the website Medals Per Capita, Denmark, with its population of just 5.6 million people, will bring home one Olympic medal for every 378,400 inhabitants. 
 
That per capita haul is the fifth best result in Rio overall and makes Denmark Europe’s per capita Olympic champion.
 
Topping Denmark on the per capita list were Grenada, Bahamas, Jamaica and New Zealand. 
 
Denmark ended its historic Olympics in grand style on Sunday night, with the men’s handball team beating France to claim gold. The handball squad thus joined swimmer Pernille Blume as Danish gold medal winners. The nation also claimed six silver medals and seven bronze. 
 
The 15 medals represents Denmark’s best Olympics performance since the 1948 Games in London. 
 
Crown Prince Frederik, a member of the International Olympic Committee, said the handball victory was the perfect way to end the 2016 Games. 
 
“It’s exceptional. We went from the ashes to being reborn like a Phoenix; it’s like a fairytale. It is so fantastic that they played their way through the Games and this is the icing on the cake,” the crown prince told DR Sporten.

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