Maybe Mathias Gidsel had a point when he praised the home court in Herning shortly after receiving his first European Championship gold medal. The 15,000 spectators and, not least, the love they had sent towards the Danish handball team over the past two weeks.

»If we hadn’t been playing at home and hadn’t had these 15,000 people, we wouldn’t have made it. That’s the only reason we became European champions«, said the soon-to-be 27-year-old right back in the midst of a long epic about heroism, unity, and the ability to handle adversity.