Marit Breivik (born 10 April 1955) is a former

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 ...

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 ...

player, and former head coach for the

Norway women's national handball team The Norway women's national handball team represents Norway at international handball competitions, and is governed by the Norges Håndballforbund (NHF). As of 2022, Norway has been in 24 finals and is regarde ...

. As coach, she has led the team to victory in the 2008 Olympic tournament, the

World Women's Handball Championship The IHF Women's Handball World Championship has been organized by the International Handball Federation since 1957. European teams have won every time except 1995 where South Korea won as the first team outside Europe and 2013 where Brazil won ...

in 1999, and four European Women's Handball Championships, in 1998 (Netherlands), 2004 (Hungary), 2006 (Sweden) and 2008 (Macedonia).

Playing career

She was born in

Levanger Levanger is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the district of Innherred. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Levanger. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Alstadhaug, Ekne ...

. As a player she played 140 games with the Norwegian national team from 1975 to 1983. She won three Norwegian national championships with her club

Skogn IL Skogn is a village in Levanger municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located on the eastern shore of the Trondheimsfjorden, about southwest of the town of Levanger. The European route E06 highway runs through the village, ...

. She has her education from the

Norwegian School of Sport Sciences The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences ( no, Norges idrettshøgskole, NIH) is a public university located at Sognsvann in Oslo, Norway. It has the national responsibility for education and research related within sport sciences. It provides educ ...

Coaching career

Breivik has been coach for clubs such as

Byåsen IL Byåsen Idrettslag is a multi-sport club from Trondheim, Norway. It has sections for association football (one for elite, one for women's and one for grassroots football), athletics, handball (one for elite and one for grassroots handball), ori ...

and

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 ...

, and from 1994 head coach for the Norwegian national female team. She is appointed at the

Olympiatoppen Olympiatoppen is an organisation that is part of Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports with responsibility for training Norwegian elite sport. Olympiatoppen is based at the Toppidrettssenteret between Norwegian Scho ...

where she is responsible coach for team sports. Among her achievements are one Olympic gold and one bronze medal, one World Championship win and two silver medals, three European Championship wins, two silver and one bronze medal. Breivik is known for her calm, controlled coaching style, for solid knowledge and for constantly trying to develop the sport. As an example of the latter, Norway often swaps the goalkeeper for an extra player in five-to-six penalty play, in order to be able to keep up a normal attack (at the expense of greatly increased vulnerability during a counter-attack if the ball should be lost). In January 2009 Breivik announced that she had decided to step down as national coach after 15 years on the job.

Achievements

;Olympic Games *1996: 4th *2000: 3rd *2004: did not qualify *2008: 1st ;World Championships *1995: 4th *1997: 2nd *1999: 1st *2001: 2nd *2003: 6th *2005: 9th *2007: 2nd ;European Championships *1994: 3rd *1996: 2nd *1998: 1st *2000: 6th *2002: 2nd *2004: 1st *2006: 1st *2008: 1st

Awards and recognitions

On 16 March 2009, King

Harald V of Norway Harald V ( no, Harald den femte, ; born 21 February 1937) is King of Norway. He acceded to the throne on 17 January 1991. Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the lin ...

appointed Breivik Knight, First Class of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

for her efforts as a role model in Norwegian sports.

Personal life

Breivik was married to the former secretary general of the

Norwegian Handball Federation '' , abbrev= NHF , logo= , logosize= 250px , countryflag= Norway , iocnation= Kingdom of Norway (NOR) , url= www.Handball.no , sport= Handball , othersport1= Beach Handball , othersport2= Wheelchair Handball , historytitle=HISTORY , precedingorga ...

, Niels Hertzberg. Hertzberg died during a holiday in Brazil on 2 March 2013, at age 72. The couple had no children, although her husband had a child from a previous marriage. Breivik has also been active in politics. She represented the Socialist Left Party in Levanger

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

from 1987 to 1991, but has stated that she votes

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

in national elections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Breivik, Marit 1955 births Living people Norwegian female handball players Norwegian handball coaches Norwegian Olympic coaches Female sports coaches People from Levanger Socialist Left Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Nord-Trøndelag Norwegian School of Sport Sciences alumni