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 Olympics team |
Olympic site |
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Celebrating gold
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Norway |
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Russia |
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Korea |
| Hungary |
Norwegian Team
 Norwegian team
Schedule og results
Olympics 2008 (handball) in the media
Olympics 2008 (all sports) in the media
Video clips
Photo specials
Good articles/commentws
Eva's handball site about Norway On the Olympic team it was only allowed 14 players. That meant that some of the players from the WC team had to stay home. There was some changes in the team which most people would say made the team stronger. Kristine Lunde was back after a long time shoulder injury, and Tonje Larsen made her come back after many years out of the national team. The injury situation was better than the previous international turnaments when it comes to the top players, but some previous national players was injured, among them Marianne Rokne and Anette Hovind Johansen. The team was a mix of veterans and young players whith some experience from the previous championship. Norway won the four nation turnament Scandinavian Open previous to the Olympics by winning all matches. Short time before the Olympics Katja Nyberg had problesm with her back again, but it seamed that she could manage to partisipate. After the team arrived Beijing, Ragnhild Aamodt had to be isolated because she had stomach problems. Of course one feared that the team would get sick, but several days went by without the worse case senario happened. Three days before the first Olympic match one good and one bad piece of news conserning captain Hammerseng was published. The good news was that she had won the prestiges title World Handball Player for 2007, the bad news was that her knee had to be iced after a test match the previous day. After winnind the first three matches in the preliminary round Norway had qualified for the quarterfinals. China was the first victim. Norway won easy playing a bit rusty. Angola and Kazaksthan were beaten in the enxt two matches. When Norway meet france in the next game, a harder finght was expected. Norway won easy with 10 goals. The Norwegian looked like medalists. Last match in the preliminary round against Romania was in reality a group final. Norway won with one single goal which meant easier quarter final oponent and no chance to meet Russia before a final. The Norwegian team had shown progress, all players scored and was involved in the vistories. Quarterfinal oponent was Sweden. As group winner Norway was of course the favourite to win, but Sweden was a cinfident team after denying Germany quartersinals. A Swedish attempt trying some psycological warfare had opposit effect. As expected Norway won easy after even first half. Unfortunately Katja Nyberg injured her knee during warming up and was not allowed to play. Kristine Lunde had problems with her old shouder injury. Luckely Nyberg returned in the semifinals, but Lunde had to consentrate on defence from that point on. In the semifinal Korea was waiting, a team with an uortodox playing style and a team Norway doesn't play against often. In the Olympic turnament the Koreans proved they were stronger than during the world championship. The Norwegian of course hoped that they had improved too. An even and exciting match was expected, but who could predict the dramatic events in this match? Alfred Hitchcock couln't done it better! Korea had the lead in the first half, but in the last 10 minutes Norway reduced their lead from 4 to 1. In the second half Norway very quick took over the lead. The Norwegian team had a 2-4 goal lead for a long period. When only two minutes was left it seamed that Norway was in control. But the situation changed whan Tinje Larsen got two minutes and a series of events caused by a mix of bad luck and bad lack of competanse. With two minutes left Norway had a thee goal lead. Korea made two quick goals, and it was only 30 seconds left. At this point te Norwegian coach Marit Breivik used her timeoutcard she had saved for an occation like this. In the next attack Norway shot too quick, and the Korean golie saved. The Korean team took advantage of this bad judgement and was able to make a quic goal and the score was even. At this point it was only 6 seconds left. It was at this point the Norwegian wonder happened. Golie Katrine Lunde Harladsen didn't focus on not saving this important shot, she quickly throw the ball to the middle of the court in the hands of Karoline Dyhre Breivang who cahced it and throw it in a quick movement in the hands of a running Gro Hammerseng with against the goal between Koreans who didn't know what hit them. Hammerseng made a quick shot while running in top speed. The TV-pictures show that the ball passed the line at the same time the time was out. The referees deceided it was good. An historic and legendaric goal made by the great player of the match. The drama continued. Disbelieving Koreans had problems realizing that the match was lost. After a period with protest against referees and the refereeboard the made a sit-down-action. After a while the Norwegian team left the court while the Koeans continued their sit down protest for 30 minutes. Korea made a formal protest because their opinion was that Hammerseng scored too late. The Norwegian team had to wait for several hours to get confirmed that the Korean protest didn't change anything. Korea appealed, but decided later to withdraw this appeal. As in the world championship Russia was waiting in the final. Those expexted a very exciting and even final between the ruling European champion Norway and world champion Russia, was totally wrong. The first 15 minutes of the first half made many people to hardly believe their own eyes. The world champions was totally humaliated by a Norwegian team playing in top gear. Everything worked for Norway, but for Russia it was the oposite. In the first half Norway scored 10 goals on contra, which tell the story about the speedy Norwegians. After 15 minutes Norway had a 10 goal lead, but in the end of the half the Russian girls had pulled themselves together and cut the Norwegian lead in half. In the second half the Norwegian team speeded up again. After that everything which remined about excitement about the outcome was gone. In teh turnament the Russian team has shown that it was not as strong as it wore in the world championship, but the opposite was the case when it comes to the Norwegian team. In addition to that it was clear that Norway had a perfect tactiques. The strong defence and contra was well known from before. This time this clear that the team had only strong links. Coach Breivik could change the team on court several times without the play was effected. Since 14 players did the job together, nobody got tired in a way that made them do unnecesarry mistakes. In the turnament all players had got self confidence which came in good use in this final match. Even though Norway with big trouble won the semifinal, this final removed all doubt if any about the best team won the gold. Many meant that Norway arrived Beijing with its strongest team ever in a championship. This seam ti be the case. Among the key players there were nobody home due injuries. Some of them did have some injury problems, but they were able to get the rest they needed since the team was full strong players. It was a nice balnace beteen players with routine and young talented players. Tonje Larsen made the team stronger both in defence and attack. Else-Marthe Sørlie Lybekk, who returned earlier, was in great shape and deserved her place on the allstarteam. The keyplayers did their job, and did their best when needed. Everbody will remember Gro Hammerseng ultraquick and important goal in last second in the semifinal. In this incedent Katrine Lunde Haraldsen and Karline Dyhre Breivang were partners. Goalkeeper Haraldesen finally got her place on the allstartteam. She had the the highest number of saves and had the highest saving procentage in the turnament enven though she guarded the Norwegian goal most of the time. The playes wil less routine proved that the routine they made from earlier chamåionships came usefull. Among them one noticed Tonje Nøstvold who this time played a lot from right back position. But it was the collective which was the most impressive. In the Norwegian team all players made goals, and it were different players who was top scorers. Itw as not easy for the opponents to defend themselves against a team which one player after another dominated if needed.
Eva's handball site about Denmark |
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| Olympics 2008 | Players' Achievements |
| Goal-keeper | Katrine Lunde Haraldsen (Norway) |
| Left winger | Orsolya Verten (Hungary) |
| Right winger | Ramona Maier (Romania) |
| Line player | Else Marthe Sørlie Lybekk (Norway) |
| Left back | Liudmila Postnova (Russia) |
| Right back | Irina Bliznova (Russia) |
| Playmaker | Seong Ok Oh (Korea) |
| Top scorer | Ramona Maier (Romania) |
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