Two fans who raised a flag of Greenland as the United States played Denmark in men's hockey at the Winter Olympics Saturday in Milan say they did so as a gesture of European support for the island and for Denmark.
Vita Kalniņa and her husband, Alexander Kalniņš — fans of the Latvian hockey team who live in Germany — held up a large red and white Greenland flag during warmups and again when the Danish team scored the opening goal of the preliminary round game against the US, which ultimately beat Denmark 6-3.
"For us as Europeans it was important to show up (with) this symbol as a symbol of a European unity that we support Greenland,” Kalniņš told The Associated Press.
Trump’s rhetoric in recent weeks about taking control of Greenland has stirred up national pride in Denmark, which oversees the semiautonomous island, as well as support from across the European continent.
Yet inside the hockey area on Saturday, Kalniņa and Kalniņš say they were told by venue staff that they could not continue to hold up the flag, even as American flags were waved throughout the stands.
“He said it was due to safety reasons, because there could be American aggressive people,” Kalniņš told The Associated Press.
Kalniņa and Kalniņš complied because they wanted to watch the game. After all, they said, they'd made their point because anyone inside the arena — and those watching on TV — had already seen the flag.
“I think the message was sent,” Kalniņš said.
The Greenland flag’s status at the Games is unclear because Greenland doesn’t participate with its own team. Greenlandic athletes, such as biathlete siblings Ukaleq and Sondre Slettemark, compete as part of Denmark's team.
A guide on the official Olympic website for the opening ceremony specified that fans can only bring “flags of countries and territories participating in the Games.”
Greenland is a self-governing territory of the kingdom of Denmark.
Kalniņa and Kalniņš said they want Greenlanders to know that Europe supports the Arctic island whether it stays a part of Denmark or ultimately chooses full independence.
“It’s not OK that Trump and America are this aggressive and try to incorporate the island into their country,” Kalniņš said
Meanwhile, the Danish athletes playing in the so-called “Greenland Derby" said politics never made it to the ice.
As for the strained relationship between the US and Denmark, “we didn’t even mention it” within the team, captain Jesper Jensen Aabo said. “We just wanted to win a hockey game against a world-class team. We didn’t need extra fire to fire us up. We were ready for the game even though there’s stuff going around in the real world, so that’s nothing that affected us at all.”
The captain said the players did not notice the Greenland flag in the stands.
“I didn’t see it, but that was nice,” Jensen Aabo said. “So hopefully they supported us.”
Other American and Danish fans who watched their teams face off said they believe sports transcends politics amid recent tensions between their governments over Greenland.
“It doesn’t matter whatever sport it is — it could be tennis, it could be bobsledding, it can be ice hockey, it could be football — it has nothing to do with politics,” Danish fan Dennis Petersen, his face covered in red and white paint to symbolize the kingdom's flag, told the AP ahead of the game. “They are athletes, not politicians.”
American fan Rem de Rohan, sporting a stars and stripes jacket, agreed that politics should be left at the stadium gate.
“I think this is the time for people to kind of put that down and compete country versus country and enjoy,” he said. “We love rooting on every country that’s been here.”
