Ukaleq Slettemark is a beacon of hope at a time when even the Greenlandic sports minister worries ‘Trump is crazy’
They don’t fly the flag of Greenland at the Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee only recognises independent sovereign states and, as all the world, even the most distant corners of the US, now knows, Greenland is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. But the flag, which is known as the Erfalasorput, was there in the grandstands at the Anterselva Biathlon Arena all the same, even if it wasn’t flying from rooftops above it. It was being waved by all the Danish fans who wanted to show their support for the only two Greenlandic athletes competing here at Milano Cortina.
Their names are Ukaleq Slettemark and Sondre Slettemark, brother and sister, and both biathletes. They were born in Nuuk, and raised between Greenland and Norway where their parents, who are also biathletes, took them to learn the sport when they were children. For the past four weeks, the Slettemark siblings have been caught in the middle of a whirlwind of media attention. There aren’t many famous people from Greenland, Ukaleq explains, in what is perhaps the 20th interview she has had to do after she finished 52nd in the women’s 15km event.