The Norway women's national beach handball team is the national team of Norway. It is governed by the Norwegian Handball Federation and it represents Norway in international beach handball competitions.
Results
Norway was the bronze medal team at the 2007 European Beach Handball Championship, where Linn Jørum Sulland finished as top scorer and Ingrid Ødegård was named Best Goalkeeper.[1]
In 2009 they played in the final of the European tournament, but lost to Italy after an even shootout and a golden goal in front of a home audience in Larvik.[2] Line player Ane Brustuen was awarded Best Player of the women's tournament.[3]
They received their first gold medal in 2010, at the 2010 World Championship in Antalya, Turkey. Ane Brustuen was named MVP of the tournament.[4]
They made bronze at the 2012, 2014 and 2016 world championships.
World Championships
| Year | Position |
|---|---|
 2008 |
6th place |
 2010 |
1st place |
 2012 |
3rd place |
 2014 |
3rd place |
 2016 |
3rd place |
 2018 |
2nd place |
 2022 |
Qualified |
| Total | 7/9 |
World Games
| Year | Position |
|---|---|
 2013 |
3rd place |
 2017 |
4th place |
 2022 |
2nd place |
| Total | 3/6 |
Controversy
In 2021, the team was fined €1500 for being improperly dressed after the women wore bike shorts instead of bikini bottoms at a European championship match in Bulgaria.[5] Critics derided the fine and the underlying rule. Norway's minister for culture and sport Abid Raja described the fine as being "completely ridiculous". Former tennis champion Billie Jean King supported the team tweeting "The sexualisation of women athletes must stop".[6][7] Although the Norwegian Handball Federation announced they would pay the fines, pop singer Pink offered to pay for them.[8] Later, in November 2021, the International Handball Federation changed their dress rules to allow female players to wear some kinds of shorts, specifying "Female athletes must wear short tight pants with a close fit".[9]
References
- ^ Andresen, Svein (15 July 2007). "Bronse i Beach-EM!" (in Norwegian). NHF. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^ Andresen, Svein (28 June 2009). "Italy (W) European Beach-champions!". NHF. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^ Andresen, Svein (29 June 2009). "- The best of them all". NHF. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^ Birkeland, Kirsten (28 June 2010). "Feiret VM-gullet" (in Norwegian). NHF. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ "Norway's beach handball team fined for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms". SBS News. 2021-07-21.
- ^ "Pink offers to pay bikini bottoms fine for Norway women's handball team". BBC News. 26 July 2021.
- ^ "Norwegian women's beach handball team fined for not wearing bikini bottoms". Independent.co.uk. 22 July 2021. Archived from the original on 2022-06-21.
- ^ Daniel Rosney; Manish Pandey (2021-07-27). "Beach handball: 'It's shocking to have to pay to not play in our pants'". BBC News.
- ^ "Beach handball relents on rule women must wear bikinis". RTÉ.ie. 2 November 2021.
External links
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