Briefly about Gro
Gro is born was April 10, 1980 and is 180 cm tall. She grew up in a town called Gjøvik. Besides playing handball Gro is also studying marketing and media. She is taller than most players on the court, and for a back player she is rather slim and mobile. After many years playing for clubs in her home region Gro moved to Denmark and started to play for Ikast for the 2003/04 season. Her cohabitant is her teammate Katja Nyberg.

Gro is a smiling person who is not afraid to make a joke. An example is her funny reaction when she was the main guest in a . Norwegian talkshow hosted by Fredrik Skavlan Desember 2005. Skavlan refereed to a stupid statement about Gro made by another TV-journalist which was done oon the air:She is the most goodlooking lesbian from Toten! When Skavlan asked her ironically what was wrong with this statement - most goodlooking, lesbian or Toten, Gro answerd without hasitation: The reasoon why I was a bit pissed off was that I'm not from Toten, I'm from Gjøvik! Gro has aslo a very serious side. She proved this by helping the organisation Plan Norway with their distant adoption program. She made a trip to Zambia and made a touching video there she met litte blind Maggie age 8. In an interview Gro said that litte Maggie was that person who had impressed her most this year.

Despite her youth Gro is already a big star on the Norwegian national team and in the Norwegian and Danish league. When Gro moved to Denmark, her old club Gjøvik/Vardal lost its key player and captain, which weakened the club a lot. Her talent as captain was transferred to the national team when she took over as leader prior to the World championship 2003. Gro is the boss, but the smiling girl is a typical team player who is very modest when it comes to her own abilities. She says she's a poor loser, but you'd never guess it from her behaviour. She's not one to make excuses after a handball loss. Despite being so young, Gro was nominated for the World Handball Player 2002. In Euro 2004 Gro was on the allstarteam and was named Most Valued Player. The same happened in Euro 2006. She does have one weakness however: dark chocolate.

Handball player:	Gro Hammerseng
Nationality:	Norwegian
Birth:	April 10, 1980
Height:	180 cm
Weight:	68 kg
Family status:	Cohabitant
Occupation:	Handball player
Position:	Back player
Team:	Ikast
Previous teams:	Gjøvik/Vardal Gjøvik HK Raufoss IL Vardal IF
National Team debut:	November 29, 2000
Matches for Norway:	70
Goals for Norway:	229
Achievements:	2008: Olympic gold, World Handball Player 2007 2007: 2 prizes Norweegian Sports awards (best team player, role model), WC-silver (allstarteam) 2006: EC-gold (allstarteam, best player) 2005: Playmaker of the year (Danish league) 2004: Cupwinnerscup-gold, DC-bronze, EC-gold (allstarteam, best player), Danish Cup silver 2003: Danish Cup silver 2002: EC-silver 2001: WC-silver

Gro’s playing style
Gro can handle all of the back positions, but since she is right-handed, she often plays in the left or middle position. Gro is tall and slender, but don't let this fool you, she's strong and often uses speed and agility as a effective weapon. Gro is a player good with feints and her trademark is a "roller feint" where she rolls around 360 degrees and scores before the confused defence understands what's happening. Gro is in many ways a complete handball player - strong both on defence and on offence as a shooter. Club teams and the national team often trust her when it comes to taking penalty shots.

Gro as a club player
On her previous club team Gjøvik/Vardal Gro was team captain and a key player. In fact, she played for the club from the age of 10 and has climbed up through its divisions. Since her leadership qualities were evident from a early stage, she has a long career behind her as captain. She became captain of the senior team by 18. When the Norwegian Handball Federation in May 2002 decided to demote her club two divisions due economic problems, she was forced to find a new club. But Gro was very loyal and waited for the result on the appeal her club had filed. This appeal succeeded, with Gjøvik/Vardal keeping its position in the Norwegian League, meaning Gro stayed with the club. A lot of clubs showed interest and several of the top clubs in Denmark made her offers. Gro decided to play for Ikast in Denmark from the season 2003/04.
XX Gjøvik/Vardal player (photo album)

Gro had a very easy start in Danish handball. Of course the fact that one of the best Norwegian national team players had arrived got a lot of attention, but this all-around player had small injuries which forced her to sit on the bench or only played in defence in the beginning. After a while Gro's back problems improved and other players suffered injuries, so Gro became one of the players Ikast now had to rely on. This meant were able to see Gro in Ikast yellow like we were used to seeing her play for Gjøvik/Vardal and the Norwegian national team: boss in defence and offence, and as a cool hand on penalty shots.

The season 2003/04 turned out to be a very good season for Gro. A short while after the World championship disappointment in Croatia, Ikast played Viborg in the Danish Cup final. This was a new disappointment for Gro. Ikast took the lead during the first half, but the team collapsed early in the second half and made mistakes that Viborg was able to take advantage of. Ikast was the favourite going in as it had beat the top team in the Danish championship. This happened even though Gro played her best when Ikast struggled most. Gro also won the bronze medal in the Danish championship and scored an average of 4.4 goals/match. It was in the E-cup the highlight of her season came. With Ikast she won the second most difficult European Cup to win, Cupwinnerscup. Ikast lost its first final against Hypo with five goals which made the task very difficult. In the second and decisive final Gro performed marvellously securing the gold. She was the top scorer with 8 goals.

Gro's progress continued in 2004/05. In the Danish league her average increased to 5 goals/match, but the best evidence of her progress was the nomination for Player of the Year in the Danish league. This prize was won by Bojana Popovic, but nobody could prevent her from being named Best Playmaker in Danish league. Ikast ended 4th in the Danish championship after losing to Slagelse in the semifinal. Gro once again proved her abilities in an important match. In the Danish Cup Ikast lost the final to Horsens, but in the semifiinal against Viborg, Gro was the best player of the match. Ikast managed to qualify for Champions league, but the team lost in the quarter final where Gro was again impressive. On its website Ikast described it like this: Ikast's Norwegian star, Gro Hammerseng, played as a world class player in the hall. Despite 10 goals, hard fighting and fantastic soloperformances, the back player an her team lost.

Unfortunately the story of Gro's 2005/06 season is brief. On September 14 she left the match with a knee injury and shortly afterward the bad news was announced. Her season was over and she wouldn't able to represent Norway in the World Championships. At the time this happened her average had increased to 6.7 goals/match. During her recovery Gro had to decide which club to play for next season. Even though this was a early stage in a long term recovery period, a lot of Norwegian and Danish clubs offered her contracts. Gro chose to stay with Ikast. In addition to Gro, Ikast signed contracts with several Norwegian national players, among them Gro's, girlfriend Katja Nyberg who herself was recovering from a shoulder injury.
XX Ikast player (photo album)

Gro on the National Team
After the 2000 Olympics the Norwegian national team was dominated by a new generation of players. Gro was one of those new ones who replaced the veterans that were injured or had retired. Her first international championship came with the 2000 European Championships, just a few months after the Sydney Olympics. Gro made a strong debut and she's the only newcomer from that period who still holds a sure place on the team.

After the European Championships some of the "old" players came back to the national team, but Gro's position was never in danger. She soon became one of the leaders on the team and after a while, she was the players' trustee. Even though Norway was represented by a more experienced team in the 2001 World Championships than the team that finished 6th in the previous European Championships, many were surprised by the fact that Norway won the silver medal. A big reason for this success was that the new generation of national team players grew very fast, including Gro.

Gro's third international championship was the 2002 European Championships which took place in Denmark. Norway made it's way to the final and was facing the host nation-a dream final. As expected it was a even match with Norway maintaining a small lead for a long time. But Denmark was able to win with the support of the home audience, their routine, and their tactical control. Gro fought hard and was the best player on the Norwegian team in the final. Before the match the Danes was expected to win, but since the match was lost in last minutes the silver was still a disappointment for the Norwegian team and Gro. As usual Gro didn't make excuses for losing. Objectively she made this comment: This was a match Norway could had won, but Denmark played smarter than us.

Before the 2003 World Championships Gro suffered a back injury, but she was able to recover fast enough to represent Norway at the tournament. Before the championship the coach made Gro the new team captain. During the championship preparation Gro had to take it easy, but there was no doubt about the new captain was ready and in good shape. Unfortunately, Gro's back injury got worse in the early in the tournament, forcing her to rest in the main round. She had to sit an watch as her teammates failed to score the single goal that would have qualified them for the semifinals. When Norway played the match to win the important 5th place, putting them into the 2004 Olympics, Gro was back., but she struggled with her pain. It didn't help that, in this fateful match, Norway also had to play without another key player, Vigdis Hårsaker, who was suffering from a stomach infection. Once again Norway came up short by one goal, meaning that Gro and Norway didn't qualify for the Olympics 2004.
XX The National Team (photo album)

Even without Olympics the Norwegian national team and Gro did participate in a international championship that year. The European championsip took place few months after Olympics. In fact this was the perfect revenge after being forced to be tourists at the Olympics. Norway got the ultimate revenge against the new Olympic champion Denmark when they once again met in the final. Norway made its way through the tournament without losing a match and Gro was the star on the Norwegian team. She was brilliant in the semifinals when Norway humiliated the host nation Hungary. In the final against Denmark she played, as usual, a crucial part on defence and offence. As expected the final was very even between the two teams that knew each other very well. Gro fought very hard on defence when the Danish team pressured at the end of the match. The Norwegian team decided not to repeat losing to Denmark in a final as they did in the 2002 Championships. In the dramatic last minutes Gro was surprisingly penalized for two minutes, which meant that she had to watch t he rest of the game from the bench. In this situation Norway played tactically smarter than Denmark and was able to win with two goals. Gro was the only Norwegian player to be named to the all-star team and was also named best playmaker. In fact, she chosen as the best player of the tournament. The EHF statistics show that Gro was the best ball snatcher in the championship, which demonstrates her overview and understanding of the game.
XX EC 2004 (photo album)
XX Gro in EC final (animation)
XX Gro wins EC gold (photo series)
XX Gro wins EC gold (animation)
XX Gro wins the European championship in Hungary (montage)

The gold from the European championship 2004 made a lot of Norwegians dream about a rerun of 1998 and 1999, when Norway won the World Championships the year after winning the European Championships. That was not going to happen, a fact that was evident long before the 2005 World Championships even started. The Norwegian team suffered an injury nightmare that included the most important players. The worst thing was that captain Gro was not able to lead the team. A long term knee injury two and a half months before the championship prevented her from participating. As expected Norway didn't even qualify for semifinals in this championship.

Montages

Montage: Gro at Youtube Montage: The Queen of Sportsgalla Montage: Gro wins the European championship in Hungary

Gro albums

Animations: Animations of Gro Photo series: Gro wins Euro gold Photo album: Olympics 2008 Photo album: WC 2007 Photo album: Euro 2006 Photo album: Euro 2004 Photo album: The National Team Photo album: Ikast player Photo album: Gjøvik/Vardal player Photo album: Not playing handball Photo album: Gro and Katja Photo album: Model Photo album: Prize winner Photo album: Small photos At Haandbold.nu you find more photos of Gro and other Ikast players which are taken by Kenneth Rosenkilde.

Gro-links Gro about handling problems Video - Olympiatoppen site (click small photos)
Gro at Sportsgalla Video - clips with Gro (YouTube, NRK January 6, 2007)
Lene's Gro Hammerseng fan site
Gro Hammerseng - The Greatest Handball Player Video (YouTube)
Gro Hammerseng Video (YouTube)
Gro at gold party Euro 2006 Video (VG 18.12.06)
Gro celebrates Euro 2006 gold Video (Dagbladet 18.12.06)
Gro and Ikast warms up Video (YouTube)
Gro in Zambia Video (Plan Febeuary 2006)
Gro in Norwegian talk show Video - clips with Gro (YouTube, NRK Dec 2, 2005)
Gro in Norwegian talk show Video - whole program (NRK December 2, 2005)
Gro and Katja in Ikast Video (Danish TV2 Oct 24, 2005)
'Handball girls' party all night Article (in English) (Aftenposten December 20, 2004)
EC Handball: Norway won thriller finals Article (in English) (The Norway Post December 20, 2004)
Gro after the Euro 2004 final Audio (NRK December 19, 2004)
Handball women crash in opening upset Article (in English) (Aftenposten December 3, 2003)
Hammerseng replaces Grini Article (in English) (The Norway Post December 2003)
Danes too strong in EC final Article (in English) (The Norway Post December 2002)
Record win by Norway Article (in English) (The Norway Post December 2001)
Handball heroes beat Sweden Article (in English) (The Norway Post December 2000)