Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen and his family have moved to Dubai, he has changed his registered home address from Denmark to Dubai, reports Danish media website Jyllands-Posten.
As a result, Axelsen is no longer a part of the Danish national team that trains in Copenhagen, Denmark. He will however be still competing under the Danish flag. He will continue to maintain limited cooperation with the coaches in Denmark.
In Dubai, Axelsen will have his daily training sessions at the NAS Sports Complex (Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex).
Many famous sports superstars including Novak Djokovic, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Paul Pogba have visited and trained at the NAS complex.
This is not the first time Axelsen has trained at the NAS complex. He has previously had training stints at the complex in 2019 and back in 2018, both of which yielded very positive results for him.
An excited Axelsen told Jyllands-Posten, “The facilities (here) are absolutely fantastic and I decide my program myself. I can just say that I would like to train from 9 to 11 and 14 to 16 today, and that tomorrow I would like to go over to the recovery department and have an ice bath, sauna and a check of my fat percentage – and it will be just like that. In one room you can simulate altitude training at up to 2,000 meters altitude. In another, you can simulate humidity. In the third, you can get cryotherapy, where you cool the body down to increase blood circulation. There are underwater cameras in the pools, so all your movements are recorded when you recover after an injury. That’s how I can keep going. There is everything.”
3 main reasons for moving to Dubai
Axelsen has three main reasons behind his big decision to move to Dubai.
The first reason relates to his asthma condition. Axelsen suffers very badly from asthma in Denmark during the pollen season as he is allergic to them.
In 2019, he had to withdraw from the Minsk European Games after being hospitalized for two weeks due to a pollen allergy.
He doesn’t suffer from any such conditions in Dubai as the weather is hotter and drier there.
He explained, “It is deeply frustrating and inhibiting because I go 15-20 percent down in my lung capacity when I am hardest hit. I’m not happy to take all that medicine, because I’m health conscious, but in Dubai, I do not have any allergy at all.”
“In addition, there are the good training facilities, that is the second advantage of staying here. And the third is the travel (time) to tournaments. I travel about 180 days a year. Therefore, it will mean a lot to be able to avoid having to travel all the way from Europe to Asia and back,” he continued.
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Is the move permanent?
Axelsen has always been one to try new things. Some of them have worked out hugely in his favour, for instance, hiring a personal super mental coach/psychologist.
The move to Dubai can be seen as one of his latest experiments. Axelsen himself is not sure if the move will help him reach new heights or just backfire.
He said, “I do not know at all if this is going to work. Maybe in half a year or year we (he and his wife) will look each other in the eye and say we want to go home and then we will do it. The most important thing for me is that my family is doing well, and it definitely offers a lot of peace that I have won the Olympics, the World Champs, All England and the team World Cup (Thomas Cup). Even if I hit some bumps from here, my career will still be absolutely amazing. On the other hand, I know myself, I would be annoyed if I did not dare to take this leap and at least try.”
