Jesper Olsen Runs Around Globe

Danish Man Plans to Circumnavigate the Globe on Foot

On Oct. 23 2005, Jesper Olsen, a Danish long distance runner, crossed the finish line at the Observatory in Greenwich, England. After 661 days and 26,232 kilometers of challenges and adventures Jesper became the first human to successfully complete a run around the world.

As a long distance runner myself, an adventurer and published photojournalist, I had the opportunity to meet and accompany Jesper for 16 days along the California Coast and on his last day in the US. In a world where being number one seems to be everything, Jesper's feat earned him a place in the "Guinness-Book" of World Records.

I didn't wake up one morning thinking "I am going to run around the world". I thought about it for a long time, carefully considering and planning every phase. No one had ever run around the world before.

I started running when I was 15 years old. What happened to be just a physical activity soon became one of my passions in life. By the time I reached 29, continent-crossings on foot in the U.S., Australia and Europe had been done. There's even a 400-pound man who just finished walking from California to New York.

Several runners had attempted to run around the world, but all of them either failed or were caught cheating, like a guy who took a train, thinking he could fool the public. My career and studies as a political scientist at the Copenhagen University were only at a beginning stage and a leave of absence wouldn't be too difficult. In 2002 I made up my mind to run around the world. Three years later I arrived. It's been a long run.

Only a few very close friends and fellow-runners understood what I was trying to do and supported me. My parents eventually backed me up when they realized I was serious. I placed an ad on several international running lists to attract potential participants. Russian ultra runner Alexander Korotkovs from St. Petersburg and a Japanese woman ultra runner Kazuko Kaihata. Being an ultra runner means you've run a distance over the standard marathon's 42 kilometers (26.2 miles).

It took two years to get sponsors, mainly in the areas of running gear and communications. Alexander, Kazuko and I got together for a three-week training camp in Denmark to test our equipment and the team as a unit. We planned another, tougher training run in Russia where runners and equipment received their final test.

Everything worked well and all was set for Jan. 1, 2004. Alexander and I would meet at the end of December in Greenwich, London and Kazuko would join us once we reached St. Petersburg. The adventure had begun.