Tonje Larsen (born 26 January 1975, in

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative ce ...

) is a retired

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 ...

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 ...

er who played for the Norwegian national team. She is Olympic champion, World champion and three times European champion. As a club player she is several times Norwegian champion and once Danish champion, and has won the

EHF Cup The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Prev ...

EHF Cup Winners' Cup The EHF Cup Winners' Cup was the official competition for men's and women's handball clubs of Europe that won their national cup, and took place every year. From the 2012–13 season, the men's competition was merged with the EHF Cup. Winners ...

and the

EHF Champions League The Men's 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 me ...

International championships

Larsen made her debut with the national team in June 1992 against

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, seventeen years old, when Sven-Tore Jacobsen was head coach. Her first major tournament came when

Marit Breivik Marit Breivik (born 10 April 1955) is a former Norwegian team handball player, and former head coach for the Norway women's national handball team. As coach, she has led the team to victory in the 2008 Olympic tournament, the World Women's Handb ...

selected her for the 1994 European Championship in

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, where she won a bronze medal. She continued playing for the national team and received medals in the three major competitions for women's handball: gold in the 1998 European Championship, gold in the 1999 World Championship and bronze at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

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. Due to jumper's knee, she was out of the team in 2001 and between 2003 and 2008. She continued playing for Larvik mostly on defense, as her knees could not tolerate the heavier stress of the offensive game. Her career seemed to be in danger, and she considered retiring. Finally, she underwent surgery successfully in 2006. As a side effect of the years she spent injured, Larsen is now considered to be an excellent defense player. She made her comeback to the national team in 2008, winning a gold medal both at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

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and at the European Championship held in December in the

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, where she also made the official All-Star Team as the ''Best left back'' of the championship. As of January 2009, she has played more than 200 matches for the national team, and scored more than 500 goals.

Club career

Larsen started playing handball for her hometown club Tønsberg Turn. She was recruited to

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 ...

when

coached the club, and has later played for Larvik, except one year with the Danish club

Viborg HK Viborg HK (Viborg Håndbold Klub) is the name of a Danish handball club from Viborg. The club has many teams for both women and men, but especially the professional women's team is one of the most successful in Danish and European handball si ...

, in the 1998/1999 season. With Viborg she won the Danish championship as well as the

Women's EHF Cup The Women's EHF European League is an annual competition for women's handball clubs of Europe. It is organized by the European Handball Federation, EHF. It is currently the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the ...

. With

she won the

in 2004/2005, and again in 2007/2008. She reached the semi final of the

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

in 2002 and in 2004, and reached the final at the

in 1996. She won the Norwegian national championship title with Larvik HK in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. She has won the Norwegian top League with Larvik ten times, in 1994, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Awards

*Player of the year 2002 in the Norwegian League *Player of the year 2003 in the Norwegian League *Selected into the ''All-star-team'' as ''Best left back'' at the 2008 European championship

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Larsen, Tonje 1975 births Living people Norwegian female handball players Handball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players of Norway Olympic gold medalists for Norway Olympic bronze medalists for Norway Sportspeople from Tønsberg Viborg HK players Olympic medalists in handball Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics