"I love the Olympics," wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry, "because they enable people from all over the world to come together and, regardless of their political or cultural differences, accuse each other of cheating." Fortunately, no such cloud of suspicion hangs about Mie Skov, who carried the flag for her native Denmark in the 2012 Olympics. Eight years ago in London, she won her first round match against Nadeen El-Dawlatly of Egypt before succumbing to Poland's Natalia Partyka in the second round. Twice named Denmark's "Player of the Year," the pride of Frederikssund achieved her career-best world ranking of #74 in 2012. Two yeas later, at only 26 years of age, she abruptly retired. Without spending all day training, Skov was suddenly faced with the novel predicament of having spare time to occupy. She embraced new challenges, even appearing on Denmark's version of "Dancing with the Stars." While Skov was gracefully sliding around the ballroom dance floor, her world ranking slid to #859 due to general inactivity. Interestingly, and perhaps tellingly, she never really stopped competing internationally, posting results as recently as last year. Then, during this year's COVID-19 lockdown, Skov has had time to reevaluate her life and set new goals. At 34, she is now set on getting back to the Olympics. While Skov's dream of a sudden reversion to world-class form may seem improbable, recent results suggest that she has secretly maintained her fighting form. On August 29, she blazed her way to the finals of the Swedish Tour in Halmstad. Her miraculous comeback bid fell one step short, however, as she lost in finals to red-hot Stina Källberg, winner of the inaugural leg of the Swedish Tour a fortnight earlier in Köping. Still, a silver medal in elite international competition bodes well as she eyes the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. She will need a top-four finish in the Europe Qualification Event in Moscow, with dates TBA. Regardless of whether Mie Skov ever gets her second chance at the Olympics, let alone her second win on the world's biggest stage, her return to action is in and of itself a victory. Of course, if she pulls of the comeback, some joker will probably accuse her of cheating.

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