MILAN (AP) — Two fans raised the Greenland flag as the United States played Denmark in men’s hockey at the Winter Olympics saying they did this 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 living in Germany, held up a large Greenland flag during the warm-up and again when the Danish team scored the opening goal of the preliminary round match against the USA.
“We are Europeans and I think as Europeans we should stick together,” Kalniņš told The Associated Press.
“The Greenlandic people decide what will happen to Greenland, but as it is now, Greenland is part of the Danish kingdom and since Greenland, as in this case, is part of Denmark, we support both countries against the US”
Other American and Danish fans who watched their teams face off Saturday in an Olympic hockey match in Milan said they believe sport transcends politics, amid recent tensions between their governments over Greenland.
Trump’s rhetoric in recent weeks about taking control of Greenland has stoked national pride in Denmark, which oversees the semi-autonomous island. Where the teams happen to be facing the Milan Cortina Olympic Games is not extra motivation for the players, but it is an opportunity for them to ride a wave of patriotism as major underdogs.
Kostya Manenkov, James Ellingworth and Stephen Whyno in Milan contributed to this report.
