Copenhagen 2021 has been six years in the making. Arguably the largest event to be organised in Denmark this century, it has involved the effort of thousands.

Yesterday it opened to the smell of a rotting stench in the air.

People were checking their shoes and their babies’ nappies and looking at one another in a peculiar fashion: “Have you just let one go?”

So it’s kind of fitting to confirm the source of the smell was none other than Amager, the aptly-named Shit Island’ to the city centre’s immediate south.

Farming activity to blame
Late yesterday, as hundreds, on both Danish and English-language websites, had pitched in with their theories – dredging the Lakes and a dodgy filter at Copenhill were popular theories – confirmation came through that farming activity on the island is to blame.

“Sorry, it’s us from Amager. There have been used fertilisers on the fields in the south end and the winds today are specially from that direction. It’s much worse here, believe me,” wrote a commenter on the Expats in Copenhagen Facebook page.

It is believed the smell originates from Tårnby, one of the municipalities on the island.

So yes, normally it’s a much hackneyed cliche, but today you can say it out loud: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.