Katrine Lunde has seen it all before in her glittering handball career, meaning there are few better to hear a little perspective from ahead of the business end of the Paris 2024 handball tournament.
The 44-year-old has collected two gold and two bronze medals at the past four Olympics and is feeling quite composed about Norway’s campaign so far.
Following an opening-round defeat to Sweden, her side picked up four wins on the bounce to win their group and set up a quarter-final against Brazil tonight at 21:30 CEST.
“In the first match, we didn’t stick to our plan and that, of course, shouldn’t happen too often,” says Lunde with a laugh.
“In the attack, we’ve been playing a new system and it’s all starting to look better. We are used to each other, we are relaxed and we know if we just keep going, the results will come because we know we’re good enough.”
Levels to go through
These games may well mark the end of an era in women’s handball with a number of Norwegian players likely to play their final Olympics, while Stine Oftedal has confirmed that this is her last tournament as a player.
In Tokyo three years ago, Norway’s pressure-filled push for gold came crashing to a halt in the semi-final loss to the Russian Olympic Committee team. While there is still plenty of anticipation around the team’s chances of gold, Lunde insists the squad has learned its lesson.
“At the last Olympics, people were saying we have to have the gold because players hadn’t won it yet but that’s not how you face something like this, you can’t just say you want it. You have to work through everything along the way, there are levels you have to get through.
“Now we are calmer and know that we have to take it step by step if we want to take the gold.”