Paris Olympics Come to a Close

In May, Olympiatoppen—the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports—put forth an official goal for Paris: eight medals. After three weeks of world-class athleticism, hard-won victories, unexpected defeats, displays of humanity, celebration, and intriguing backstories filled the games with emotion and meaning.

While Norway’s major talent lies solidly in the Winter Olympics, the country sent 109 world class athletes to Paris. It was looking like they would fall short of their desired tally, but then on a day dubbed superlørdag*, Norway landed five medals, for an overall total of four golds, one silver and three bronze medals. Here is a run-down of those medalists:

GULL / GOLD

Decathlete Markus Rooth, 22, made his Olympic debut and surprised everyone by winning the first medal for Norway and the first gold in Paris. His consistent performance in each of the ten categories resulted in him not only eclipsing higher-ranked Norwegian Sander Aae Skotheim, but beating the presumed victors, becoming the youngest decathlon winner in 44 years, with a Norwegian record of 8796 points.

Håndballjenter / Women’s Handball Team
After a rocky start with losses to both Sweden and Denmark, Norway came back with five match wins and routed France on their home turf in the final. In her fifth Olympic games, goalkeeper Katrine Lunde has an astonishing record, saving 40% of shots on goal. With this win, Lunde added another gold to her 2 gold and 2 bronze Olympic medals. Nine-year national team captain Stine Bredal Oftedal, who graced the March 2022 cover of Viking, had the ultimate closure on a brilliant handball career, announcing her retirement at the end of the Summer Games.

Jakob Asserson Ingebrigtsen’s 4th place finish in the 1500-meter run stunned fans, as he’d been assumed to top the podium with a gold medal. Thankfully, in his second final, the 5000 meters, everything went to plan and the “Sandnes Express” was able to ring the Olympic bell at the track, making good on the hype song he’d recorded with brother Filip and Henrik, “Ingen Gjør Det Bedre,” (No One Does it Better).

Weightlifter Solfrid Koanda from Grimstad, 25, pulled off an astonishing weightlifting gold for Norway in the clean and jerk competition, becoming Norway’s first women’s weightlifting medalist, and taking the first Olympic weightlifting gold for Norway in 52 years. Koanda’s competition style is unique: in order to concentrate solely on her own performance, she never watches her opponent’s lifts, so she didn’t realize right away that she’d won gold. Even more surprising, Koanda decided to put her career as an electrician on hold only 3 years ago, to train full-time.

SØLV / SILVER

The fastest 400-meter hurdler in history, Karsten Warholm from Ulsteinvik in Møre og Romsdal, has twice broken the world 400 m hurdle record. As the defending Olympic champion, the 28-year-old hoped for a repeat of his Tokyo results, but bobbled his rhythm on hurdle nine, finishing behind American Rai Benjamin. He told NRK that he was still smiling about the silver, but “you really can’t afford mistakes like this at the Olympics.”

BRONSE / BRONZE

Grace Jacob Bullen of Fredrikstad is a three-time European champion of freestyle wrestling. In her match for the bronze, she won 10-0 in only 57 seconds against Canadian Ana Godinez. She thanked her gym Fredrikstad Bryteklubb for the support. To improve her instincts, Bullen wrestles while blindfolded, practices carrying people as weights, and hikes in the high mountains. Wrestling for women has only been in the Olympics for 20 years – since the 2004 Summer Games.

Line Flem Høst
Line Flem Høst of Oslo earned Norway’s second medal in the Olympic Games. She won bronze in Marseille, taking the first Norwegian women’s sailing medal in 20 years. The 28-year-old told NRK Radio that she’d had nerves before the race but was “crazy happy” about clinching the bronze.

Anders Berntsen Mol + Christian Sandlie Sørum The defending gold medalist duo pulled off a beach volleyball bronze medal win under the Eiffel Tower. The sandvolleyballgutta said they were inspired by the other Norwegian wins on super Saturday, with Crown Prince Haakon Magnus sitting in the audience.

To view a list of the results in every category, visit Norway’s Olympics results page.

The Paralympic Games take place from August 28 to September 8, in Paris.
For more Olympic and Paralympic content, sign into sofn.com and read Viking magazine’s July/August article, Heia Norge!

Olympic Vocabulary
*superlørdag – super Saturday
Olympiske Leker – Olympic Games
Paralympiske Leker – Paralympic Games
OL (“ooh-ell”) – abbreviation for Olympic Games
gull – gold
sølv – silver
bronse – bronze
medalje – medal
medaljekampen – the fight for a medal
pallen – the podium
lagkonkurranse – team sport

friidrett – track and field
diskoskast – discus
forsøksheat -trials
hekk – hurdles
kulestøt – shotput
kvalifisering – qualification round
maraton – marathon
sleggekast – hammer throw
spiss – javelin
stafett – relay
stavhopp, stavsprang – polevaulting
triatlon – triathlon
5000 meteren – the 5000 meter race

boksing – boxing
brettseiling – surfboarding
bryting – wrestling
dressursport – dressage
håndball – handball
golf – golf

vektløfting – weightlifting
rykk – clean and jerk

padling – paddling
roing – rowing
sandvolleyballgutta – the beach volleyball boys
seiling – sailing

skyting – shooting
lerduekonkurransen – skeet shooting
luftrifle – air rifle

sykling – cycling
banesykling – track / velodrome cycling
temporittet – time trial
terrengsykling – cross-country mountain biking

svømming – swimming
stuping – diving
taekwondo – tae kwon do
tennis – tennis

Sources:
Team Norway: https://www.facebook.com/OlympicNOR
https://www.teamnor.no/nyheter/2024/-Et-OL-stint-av-stolte-norske-idrettsoyeblikk/
https://www.teamnor.no/resultater-paris2024/
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sommer-OL_2024