When the last whistle of the Olympic final of the men’s handball competition at Paris 2024 was blown, the reality dawned.

Mikkel Hansen has played the last minutes of his career.

But Hansen, who became a role player in Denmark’s two major wins – the gold medals at the 2023 IHF Men’s World Championship and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – knew this was the perfect ending.

The last dance. A fantastic last hurrah. Another win in the bag. And with it, his second gold Olympics medal.

It was a dominating performance for Denmark, the ones you hear touted about for decades to come. A 13-goal win against Germany, 39:26, was the largest-ever margin in an Olympic final.

And Hansen was there, albeit in a more supporting role, finishing the match on the court, as coach Nikolaj Jacobsen rotated his squad and helped the player who meant so much to Denmark’s golden era over the past eight years to celebrate his retirement exactly as he needed: recognised by over 27.000 spectators in the Stade Pierre Mauroy and millions more on TV.

“It is something incredible. I hadn't dreamed of that yesterday, before the final. I have to say that I feel a bit like you do when you are proud of your children. That we can perform at such a level is absolutely crazy. It is rarely seen and especially in a final,” said Hansen after the match.

With 1387 goals in 276 matches played for Denmark, the left back is the second best all-time scorer for the Scandinavian side and the player with the fourth largest number of appearances.

But his resume speaks volumes. He won every possible competition with Denmark, with two Olympic golds – at Rio 2016 and Paris 2024 – three world titles in 2019, 2021 and 2023 and the EHF EURO title in 2012. In total, he won 11 medals with the reigning world and Olympic champions in his 17 years playing for the national team.

And by the end the final whistle was blown, Hansen, a three-time IHF Male World Player of the Year in 2011, 2015 and 2018, was donning a cardboard cap in the shape of a king crown, immediately brought by his teammates. Soon, Hansen took it down, not necessarily wanting to draw all the attention on him. Once again, he became the ultimate team player, ready to help with whatever was needed.

He did not chase records in the last moments of his career, despite Denmark winning all their eight matches on the way to the second Olympic trophy. Therefore, with only 29 goals scored at Paris 2024, he fell short of becoming the first player in history to score 200 goals at the Olympic Games. He only had 194.

“It couldn't have been a better way to end my career. There has always been great pride in playing in the national team. I don't think anyone can doubt that. Being part of this group cannot really be described in words,” added Hansen.

Hansen’s legacy will be even stronger than his dad’s, Flemming, who represented Denmark at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. When he was making his first steps, he was usually called Flemming’s son.

But he stepped out of his father’s shadow to write a legacy for himself. The medals are living proof of that. Yet Hansen’s legacy is more about medals and wins, or fantastic goals. It is about how dominant he was at the peak of his career, when he was in his prime, when he was basically unstoppable, collecting every possible MVP or top goal scorer title.

His legacy is also about how he inspired others to become better and better. Challenging his teammates to improve is one side of the coin. Playing there, with them, teaching by example is the other. Probably Mathias Gidsel or Simon Pytlick would have never made the All-Star team in major international competitions from their first appearances if Hansen was not there.

“It makes this win even sweeter, to be honest. To be here, with Mikkel, and send him away with such a win, it is exactly the motivation we needed. Him and Niklas [Landin – who is also retiring] have carried the men's national team to many wins. But we are only standing here today because of those two. Of course, also a lot of others,” concluded Gidsel.

It was just fitting that Hansen’s record of the number of goals scored in a single edition of the Olympics – 61, set at Tokyo 2020 – was beaten with one goal by Gidsel. A passing of the torch. But Denmark will surely miss Hansen’s shot, charisma and traditional headband. 

Just like all of us.