What are the secrets behind Norway's dominance?
Educating players from an early age is one of the reasons behind the success of the women's national handball team according to Norwegian star Stine Skogrand, who features at this year's Women's Handball World Championship.
Handball
Norway's women's national handball team hasn’t looked back since claiming their first World Championship gold medal in 1999.
As of 2023, no team has won as many World Women’s Handball Championship medals as ‘Håndballjentene’.
Only Russia matches the number of gold medals, with both countries having claimed the world title four times.
Norway could make it five later this month and add another medal to their collection of 31 (15 gold) across the World Championship, the European Championship, and the Olympic Games.
But what is the secret behind this success?
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Consistency for generations
For several decades the Norway women's national handball team has succeeded in creating one handball star after the other, making sure they stay competitive at the biggest tournaments.
Cecilie Leganger, Gro Hammerseng, Heidi Løke and Nora Mørk are just some of the superstars from the Nordic handball superpower over the past 30 years.
Right back Stine Skogrand, who has been part of the Norway national team for a decade, spoke to Olympics.com about Norway’s dominance in women’s handball.
“There has always been a lot of consistency, both on the coach position and among the players,” the 30-year-old said. “We have always had an extremely high level of routine, and we have been lucky to have the best goalkeepers for many years.
"I think we’ve continuously just had a good mix of players. We’ve got small quick players and a good defence and attack. Often several players get selected for the All-Star teams at the championships."
Stine Skogrand scored six goals in Norway's opening game at the 2023 World Women's Handball Championship against Greenland.
Focus on talents and a strong handball culture
Besides consistency, their success also comes down to strong organisation and strategic work in developing younger generations.
The country invests a lot into handball to keep producing new stars ready to take over from established players when needed.
“Norway has consistently been good at talent development,” Skogrand explained. “The Federation has always spent a lot of resources on the youth national teams”
“I remember from when I played on the youth national teams, we had exactly the same concept as on the senior team. We had the same routines around training and games and how we should behave. So, the entire ‘education’ on how to play for the senior team was already there from an early age.”
Considering how many members there are in Norwegian handball clubs, it is clear that the sport's popularity is huge. As of April 2023, there are 135,000 members in the country according to handball.no, which is 30,000 more than Denmark had in 2022.
Out of the 135,000, two-thirds are women and under the age of 17, which bodes well for the future of the Norwegian superwomen.
“The fact that the women’s national team has been so good for many years also encourages more children to play handball and become just as good,” Skogrand said at the World Championship.
“And it’s really cool that we also can showcase the sport on home soil now, so the children looking up to us can see us up close.”
Norway won the 2021 World Women's Handball Championship after defeating France in the final.
Stine Skogrand on the 2023 World Women’s Handball Championship: “Our goal is to reach the final”
Norway's women have been in the semi-finals in seven of the last eight editions of the World Championships claiming six medals.
They won gold in Brazil 2011, Denmark 2015, and in Spain 2021. In 2023, the reigning world and European champions got off to a great start beating Greenland convincingly 43-11 in their opening game, where Skogrand got on the scoresheet six times.
“Our objective is to reach the final in Herning (Denmark). If we make it to the semi-finals anything can happen. We are happy that we get to play the quarter-final in Norway where we have the crowd behind us. Of course, we take it one game at a time, but our big goal is to fight for gold,” Skogrand concludes.
The 2023 World Women’s Handball Championship is hosted by Norway, Denmark and Sweden. It is the first time the competition is hosted by three countries. The final takes place on 17 December.