The athletes from nowhere: Dispatches from the Faroe Islands, a proud sporting nation the Olympics won't acknowledge

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “Thomas Bach speaks about the Olympic spirit being ‘for all and everyone’, but why does all and everyone not include the Faroe Islands?” asks Jon Hestoy, the Vice President of the Faroese Olympic Committee, on a visit to London at the start of summer. I just wish people could visit the Faroe Islands for themselves and see what it is this small country has to offer.” So, with less than two years to go until Tokyo 2020 and 35 years since the establishment of an exceptionally frustrated Faroese Olympic Committee, I caught the short flight from Edinburgh to the small village of Sørvágur to find out exactly what he meant. Public opinion had been well and truly divided when the Faroe Islands first approached Fifa seeking international recognition — “people were split half and half, some were proud and some where excited, but others thought we were crazy and would get stuffed every single match”, he admits — but against all the odds, the Faroe Islands would go on to beat Austria 1-0, with Torkil Nielsen scoring the winning goal and Knudsen pulling off a string of impressive saves. “How can we do that when our very best athletes, like Pál, are forced to represent a totally different country?” RETURN TO TÓRSHAVN open image in gallery Return to Tórshavn It would be impossible to write anything about this country’s long fight for Olympic recognition without sitting down with Pál Joensen.