AU pays tribute to top athletes

15 AU students have won medals in European and World Championships this year so far. Nine of them participated in the event. Photo: Andreas Friis

28 October 2022 by Andreas Friis

Aarhus University set up the AU Elitesport unit in 2011 out of a desire to make it possible for students to pursue athletic excellence alongside their studies. This was the beginning of the Dual Career programme.Dual Career students celebrated each other and were feted by university staff in Stakladen on Thursday, with speeches, music dance and awards.

And there was a lot worth celebrating. Over the past year, fifteen students have won medals in sixteen different World and European championships, and 48 Dual Career athletes have taken their Master’s degrees.

Dual Career makes it possible

One of the students celebrated on Thursday is Simon Hansen. He’s studying international business communication and in 2021, he won a bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships. At the ceremony he made a speech that addressed what Dual Career means to him:

“It means I don’t have to compromise on my goals, dreams and visions for the future – either in terms of sport or my education. I don’t do anything halfheartedly, so getting an opportunity to do two things wholeheartedly at AU is two birds with one stone.”

In addition to speeches by Simon Hansen and Aarhus BSS vice-dean Morten Rask, video messages from some of the students who were unable to attend due to competitions abroad were shown. One of these was Anne-Marie Rindom, who is studying sports science and who just won a gold medal at the Sailing World Championships.

“Now I’ve been a student at sports science for almost ten years. Without AU Elitesport, I would never have been able to even get close to getting an education,” Anne-Marie said in her video message from Texas.