Ukaleq Slettemark, a 25-year-old biathlete from Greenland, is grappling with anxiety as she pursues Olympic qualification amid US President Donald Trump's repeated statements about taking over the island. Speaking to the Associated Press from Ruhpolding, Germany, where she and her brother Sondre are competing in the biathlon World Cup, Slettemark described the situation as 'terrifying.'
'We are imagining the worst-case scenario and my aunt is having trouble sleeping at night. My mom, yesterday, she broke down at the stadium crying because she’s so afraid,' she said. The siblings compete for Greenland in the World Cup, but if they qualify for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, they will represent Denmark, as Greenland lacks its own national Olympic committee.
Slettemark stressed that while she is an athlete, not a politician, the threats are impossible to ignore. 'People are talking about maybe they have to leave Greenland because they feel it’s so unsafe. So we are terrified and we are really angry because this is not how you talk to another country, this is not how you talk to your allies. And we feel so disrespected and very scared,' she added.
Trump reiterated his intention to take over Greenland on Wednesday, citing national security. The comments came ahead of a meeting between US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Danish and Greenlandic officials. Greenland is a semiautonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally.
Born in Nuuk, Slettemark competed for Denmark in the 2022 Winter Olympics. Both her parents are biathletes; her father Øystein competed in the 2010 Olympics, and her mother Uiloq founded the Greenland Biathlon Federation. Slettemark said she has no hard feelings against US athletes, whom she considers friends, but hopes Americans will pressure Congress to stop the takeover plan, which she likened to Russia's aggression in Ukraine. She noted that if the US forcefully took Greenland, she would support banning the US from the Olympics, as was done with Russia.
