Heidi Løke (born 12 December 1982) is a Norwegian

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor 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 thr ...

coach for the women's team at

IL Runar Idrettslaget Runar is a Norwegian sports club from Haukerød in Sandefjord. It has sections for athletics, handball, football, and cross-country skiing. It was established on January 7, 1949. Athletics Its athletics section is known for its pro ...

. She is also assistant coach for

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. As a player she last played for

Larvik HK Larvik Håndballklubb, is a professional women's handball club from Larvik, Norway. The club has won 36 titles total in both the Eliteserien (women's handball), Norwegian League and the Norwegian Women's Handball Cup, Norwegian Cup, and won the ...

at top level and formerly she made huge success for the Norwegian national team. Among her achievements as club player are national championships, a silver medal in the

EHF Women's Cup Winners' Cup The Women's EHF Cup Winners' Cup was the official competition for women's handball clubs of Europe that won their national cup, and took place every year from 1976 to 2016 (until 1993 organized by IHF instead of EHF). From the 2016–17 season, t ...

, and winner of the

EHF Women's Champions League The EHF Women's Champions League is the competition for the top women's team handball, handball clubs in Europe, organised annually by the European Handball Federation (EHF). It is the most prestigious tournament for clubs, with the champions of ...

several times.

Career

Club career

Løke was born in

Tønsberg Tønsberg (), historically Tunsberg, is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located about south-southwest of the capital city of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near ...

and grew up in

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Sandefjord ...

where she started to play handball at the age of ten. She played for Runar,

Larvik Larvik () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Larvik (town) ...

Gjerpen Gjerpen is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Skien Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Gjerpen, which is now part o ...

and Aalborg DH before she again played for Larvik between 2008 and 2011. She was top scorer in the Norwegian League in the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 seasons, and was selected Player of the Year in the league both in 2008/2009 and in 2009/2010. Her club won gold medals in both the League and the Cup in 2008/2009, and again in 2009/2010. With Larvik she reached the final in the

in 2008/2009, winning the silver medal. Her club reached the semifinal in the

in 2009/2010. On 29 November 2010 it was rumored that she would sign with top Hungarian team

Győri ETO KC Győri ETO KC (, lit. Concordance Gymnastics Department of Győr Handball Club) is a Hungary, Hungarian professional women's handball club from Győr. Since they are sponsored by Audi, the official name for the team is Győri Audi ETO KC. On dome ...

, but Løke refused to comment on the speculations until the forthcoming European Championship were over. Few weeks later, on 31 December 2010, it was announced that Løke had agreed a two-years contract with

Győr Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...

and would join her new club after the ongoing season was finished. As Larvik's general manager Bjørn-Gunnar Bruun Hansen revealed, they were in negotiation talks with Løke for a while, but the excellent line player got an offer they simply could not match. Shortly after her signing with Györ, Larvik's head coach

Karl Erik Bøhn Karl Erik Bøhn (14 February 1965 – 2 February 2014) was a Norwegian teacher, team handball player and coach. His achievements as coach for the women's club Larvik HK include several victories in the Norwegian League and the Norwegian Cup, ...

was dismissed from his job, due to his role in the events. On 1 March 2012 Løke was given the

IHF World Player of the Year The IHF World Player of the Year is a handball award given annually to the player who is considered to have performed the best in the previous season, both at club and international competitions. It is awarded based on votes from experts, media a ...

award in recognition of her performances throughout 2011 both on club and international level.

International career

Løke made her debut in the Norwegian national team on 7 April 2006 against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. She participated on the Norwegian team that won gold medals at the

2008 European Women's Handball Championship The 2008 EHF European Women's Handball Championship was held in the Republic of Macedonia from 2–14 December, it was won by Norway after beating Spain 34–21 in the final match. Venues Two Macedonian cities have been selected as hosts for t ...

in Macedonia. She won a bronze medal with the Norwegian team at the

2009 World Women's Handball Championship The 2009 World Women's Handball Championship was the 19th edition, second to take place outside Europe, of the international championship tournament in women's team sport handball that is governed by the International Handball Federation (IHF). P ...

in Beijing. At the

2010 European Women's Handball Championship The 2010 European Women's Handball Championship was held in Denmark and Norway from 7 to 19 December. It was the first European Championship hosted by two countries. Norway won their overall 5th gold medal, when they defeated first time finalist ...

she won a gold medal with the Norwegian team, and was selected into the All-Star team as best line player of the tournament. The next year, at the World Championship, she repeated this success, collecting both the gold medal and earning a place in the All-Star team.

Personal

Heidi is not the only professional handballer in the Løke family. Her older brother,

Frank Løke Frank Løke (born 6 February 1980) is a Norwegian endurance athlete, TV personality and former handball player. Career Regarded as one of the best line players of his era, Løke played for clubs in Norway, Germany, Denmark, Croatia and Switzer ...

was also a former international handballer as well as a player for the Norwegian national team. Her sister,

Lise Løke Lise may refer to: People *Eliseo Nicolás Alonso (known as Lise; 1955–2012), Spanish woodcarver and sculptor *Claude Lise (born 1941), French politician from Martinique Given name Lise is a variant of the given name Lisa *Lise de Baissac (1905 ...

was also a player at top level. She had a relationship with her former coach Leif Gautestad, with whom she had a son, Alexander, born in 2007. The couple separated in 2010. Former partner of the now deceased handball coach

. Gave birth to her second son, Oscar on 30 June 2017, with Bjørn Vestrum Olsson. She was back in training six days later, and attended her first handball training for her new club

Storhamar HE Storhamar Håndball Elite is the professional women's handball team of the Norwegian multi-sports club Storhamar IL based in Hamar. The team plays in REMA 1000-ligaen, the top division in the country, since its promotion in 2016. They competed i ...

only 25 days after she gave birth. Her third son, Casper was born on 23 April 2022 from partner Stian Bodin Sundal.

Achievements

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

: **''Winner'': 2011, 2015 **''Silver Medalist'': 2017 **''Bronze Medalist'': 2009 *

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

: **''Winner'': 2008, 2010, 2014, 2020 **''Silver Medalist'': 2012 *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

: **''Winner'': 2012 **''Bronze Medalist'': 2016 *

EHF Champions League The EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men's com ...

: **''Winner'': 2010/2011, 2012/2013, 2013/2014, 2016/2017, 2020/2021 **''Finalist'': 2011/2012, 2015/2016 **''Semifinalist'': 2009/2010 *

EHF Cup Winners' Cup The EHF Cup Winners' Cup was the official competition for men's and women's handball clubs of Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocea ...

: **''Finalist'': 2009 **''Semifinalist'': 2006 * REMA 1000-ligaen: **''Winner'': 2008/2009 (Larvik), 2009/2010 (Larvik), 2010/2011 (Larvik), 2019/2020 (Vipers), 2020/2021 (Vipers) **''Silver'': 2018/2019 (Storhamar) **''Bronze'': 2024/2025 (Larvik) *Norwegian Cup: **''Winner'': 2008, 2009, 2010, 2019, 2020 **''Finalist'': 2018 *

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, ), also known as NB I or Fizz Liga after its title sponsor, OTP Bank's webshop subsidiary, is a professional association football league in Hungary and the highest level of the Hungarian football league system. Twelve ...

: **''Winner'': 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 *

Magyar Kupa The Hungarian Cup (, ), officially known as MOL Magyar Kupa for sponsorship reasons, is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association'','' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of ...

: **''Winner'': 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Awards and recognition

* Top Scorer of Eliteserien: 2008/2009 (216 goals), 2009/2010 (204 goals), 2010/2011 (221 goals) * Best Player of Eliteserien: 2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2010/2011 * All Star Line Player of Eliteserien: 2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2010/2011, 2019/2020, 2020/2021 * EHF Champions League Top Scorer: 2011 (99 goals) * All-Star Line Player of the European Championship: 2010, 2012, 2014 * All-Star Line Player of the World Championship: 2011, 2015 *

: 2011 (also nominated for 2012) * All Star Line Player of the Summer Olympics: 2012, 2016 * All-Star Team Best Line Player of the

: 2014/2015; 2015/2016 * Foreign Handballer of the Year in Hungary: 2015 * All-Star Line player of

Møbelringen Cup The Posten Cup, formerly known as the Møbelringen Cup and Intersport Cup, is an annual women's handball tournament arranged by the Norwegian Handball Federation. Norway plus three invited national teams compete for the title, normally in a single ...

: 2018 *

European Handball Federation The European Handball Federation (EHF) is the umbrella organisation for European handball. Founded on 17 November 1991, it is made of 50 member federations and two associated federations (England and Scotland), and is headquartered in Vienna, Au ...

Hall of Fame in 2023.

References

External links

*
Heidi Løke on europamester.dk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loke, Heidi 1982 births Living people Handball players from Tønsberg Norwegian female handball players 21st-century Norwegian sportswomen Győri Audi ETO KC players Handball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players for Norway Olympic medalists in handball Olympic gold medalists for Norway Olympic bronze medalists for Norway Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Norwegian expatriate handball players in Denmark Norwegian expatriate handball players in Hungary Norwegian handball coaches Female handball coaches