Denmark has staged the World Road Cycling Championships, the European Volleyball Championships and the World Badminton Championships, along with several other events, since 2011.

Their future schedule includes the 2015 World Archery Championships, the 2018 International Sailing World Championships and the 2019 World Men's Handball Championships.

Last month, Norwegian capital Oslo pulled out of the race to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, in what is perhaps the most high-profile example of a bid falling by the wayside due to a lack of public and Government support.

Counteracting this growing trend is one of the key purposes of the Olympic Agenda 2020, which is due to culminate in the International Olympic Committees' (IOC) Extraordinary Session in Monaco on December 8 and 9.

But, speaking at the Smart Cities & Sport Summit here, Sejer claimed the situation in Denmark is much different to the one generally perceived across the rest of Europe. 

"We are enjoying basically full support in Denmark," said Sejer.

"The decision to allocate an annual pocket to sport events sees them supported by all political parties in Parliament, from the left-wing to the right-wing.

"Moreover, the Danish media, normally quite negative about any spending of public funds, are openly positive about the main sport events coming to Denmark, and we also have widespread support in the public debate across Denmark.

"All this is happening at a time of reduced public spending across Europe and at a time where we see quite negative talks in many countries, including the Nordic region when it comes to servicing a major event."

The 2011 World Road Cycling Championships were held in Copenhagen ©Getty Images










Sejer spoke of three combining elements that have brought success to Denmark when bidding for events - physical, organisational and digital activation.

The physical element focuses on getting its citizens involved in events, as was the case at the International Association Athletics Federation World Half Marathon Championships earlier this year when the general public had the opportunity to compete alongside the elite athletes.

The organisational element concentrates on the relationship between Sport Event Denmark, the national sport federations and the host cities, while the digital element centres on the promotion of events. 

"Part of our strategy in Denmark is to choose sport events where we know that they have general public support from the beginning," added Sejer.

"We will choose sports where we have a chance of a medal and we will choose sports where we know the people of Denmark are interested. 

"We have also hosted, for instance, the European Championships in volleyball, and [the sport] is not that popular in Denmark.

"But what we did with that event was try to activate people in a different way and activate more international spectators to come to the event."

In May, Danish Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, proposed the idea of a joint bid between Hamburg and Copenhagen for either the 2024 or 2028 Olympics, a possibility if the IOC's rules are changed to allow for a Games encompassing two countries. 

A potential bid between the two will build upon the Fehmarn Belt crossing, an 18 kilometre-long tunnel due to be completed in 2021.

This will connect the German island of Fehmarn with the Danish island of Lolland, meaning a journey from Hamburg to Copenhagen would take less than three hours. 

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