RICHMOND, Ky. – Ole Hesselbjerg and Thijs Nijhuis were cross country / track and field teammates at EKU from 2012 to 2013. They are now teammates again, only this time on the Danish national team at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
 
Hesselbjerg and Nijhuis will represent their native Denmark in Tokyo beginning July 29.
 
It is the first time EKU has had two Olympians in the same summer games.
 
Hesselbjerg is no stranger to the Olympics. The native of Charlottenlund, Denmark competed in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
 
He qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the same event in early June when he ran a Danish national record and personal-best time of 8:20.4.
 
Hesselbjerg was a two-time NCAA bronze medalist in the steeplechase while at EKU. He graduated in 2015 with a degree in physics.
 
The first round of the men's steeplechase is the very first Athletics event of the Tokyo Olympics. It is set to begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, July 30 in Tokyo, meaning it will be on around 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, July 29.
 
This will be the first Olympics for Nijhuis. The native of Sparkaer, Viborg, Denmark will race in the men's marathon.
 
He ran a qualifying time of 2:10:57 at the Sevilla Marathon in Spain on February 23, 2020.
 
Nijhuis represented Denmark at the IAAF World Track & Field Championships in October of 2019 in Doha, Qatar. He finished 31^st out of 73 competitors in the marathon, overcoming temperatures in the high 80s to record a time of 2:18:10.
 
Nijhuis was a key member of an EKU men's cross country team that qualified for three straight NCAA Championships (2011 to 2013), including the 2013 squad that won the NCAA Southeast Region title and finished 15^th nationally. He also represented EKU in the 10,000 meters at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Track Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
 
He is currently a medical student at Århus University in Århus, Denmark.
 
The men's marathon is the final event of the Athletics slate in Tokyo. It is set to take place on Sunday, August 8 at 7 a.m. in Tokyo, meaning it will be on around 6 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 7.