Idrettslaget Vestar was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

sports club from

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

established in 1953, with sections for

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

. It was founded as Vestlendingenes IL, indicating its status as a club for people from

Western Norway Western Norway ( nb, Vestlandet, Vest-Norge; nn, Vest-Noreg) is the region along the Atlantic coast of southern Norway. It consists of the counties Rogaland, Vestland, and Møre og Romsdal. The region has no official or political-administrativ ...

who had moved to Oslo. It took the name IL Vestar in 1960. It is best known for its women's

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

team, which dominated the First Division for much of the 1970s, winning seven titles in a row between 1972 and 1978. This makes it the championship's second most successful club after

Larvik HK Larvik Håndballklubb, is a women's handball club from Larvik, Norway. History Larvik HK was founded in 1990 as a merger of the handball departments in the two clubs Larvik Turn and Halsen. They played in the top division since 1992/93. During ...

. Its major international success was reaching the semifinals of the 1977

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, where it was defeated by

SC Leipzig 1. Fußballclub Lokomotive Leipzig e.V. is a German football club based in the locality of Probstheida in the Südost borough of Leipzig, Saxony. The club may be more familiar to many of the country's football fans as the historic side VfB Lei ...

. Its best known players were

Karen Fladset Karen Fladset (born 27 May 1944) is a Norwegian former team handball player and coach. She played for the club IL Vestar and the Norway women's national handball team. With Vestar she became Norwegian Champion both as player and coach, and she wa ...

Kristin Midthun Kristin Midthun (born February 4, 1961 in Oslo) is a Norwegian team handball player and Olympic medalist. She received a silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the ...

Linn Siri Jensen Linn Siri Jensen (born 18 January 1961) is a Norwegian team handball goalkeeper and coach. She played 122 matches for the national team. She won a bronze medal at the 1986 World Women's Handball Championship The 1986 World Women's Handball Cha ...

Ingrid Steen Ingrid Steen (born December 12, 1967 in Trondheim) is a Norwegian team handball player and Olympic medalist. She received silver medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul with the Norwegian national team,

and

Cathrine Svendsen Cathrine Roll-Matthiesen, née Svendsen (born 23 September 1967, in Porsgrunn) is a Norwegian former handball player. She played in the clubs IF Borg, IL Vestar, Lunner IL, Bouillargues (France), Larvik HK Larvik Håndballklubb, is ...

. In athletics, their best known athlete was sprinter

Richard Simonsen Richard Simonsen (born 20 August 1945) is a former Norwegian sprinter who specialized in the 200 and 400 metres. He finished eighth in 4 × 400 metres relay at the 1971 European Championships with his teammates Steinar Mo, Gøte Lundblad and P ...

. One other sprinter won national gold medals; Kåre Magne Åmot in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

in 1980 and 1981. Handball player Karen Fladset was also a good

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er with two Norwegian championships. Leif Rise won national silver and bronze medals in the discus throw and

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

, Astrid Skei won one silver medal in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

, and John Kristian Johnsen and Oddvin Moland won silver and bronze medals in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

Titles

* First Division ** 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978

References

Defunct Norwegian handball clubs Defunct athletics clubs in Norway Sport in Oslo Sports clubs established in 1953 1953 establishments in Norway {{handball-team-stub