Katja Nyberg

Katja Johanna Alice Nyberg (born 24 August 1979) is a naturalized Norwegian handball player, currently retired. She played 99 games and scored 321 goals for the Norwegian national team during her career. With the Norwegian team she won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and a silver medal at the 2007 World Women's Handball Championship in France, as well as two gold medals and one silver medal at the European Championships.

For other people with the same name, see Katja Nyberg (disambiguation).
Katja Nyberg
Personal information
Full name Katja Johanna Alice Nyberg
Born (1979-08-24) 24 August 1979
Stockholm, Sweden
Nationality Norwegian
Height 1.83 m (6.0 ft)[1]
Playing position Left back
Youth career
Years Team
0000–1997
 Sparta IF
Senior clubs
Years Team
1997–1998
 Stockholmspolisens
1998–2005
 Larvik HK
2005–2006
 Krim Ljubljana
2006–2010
 FC Midtjylland
2010–2012
 Larvik HK
National team 1
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2008
 Norway 99[2] (321)
Medal record
Women's handball
Representing  Norway
Olympic Games
2008 Beijing Team
World Championship
2007 France Team
European Championship
2004 Hungary Team
2006 Sweden Team
2002 Denmark Team
1 National team caps and goals correct
as of 31 December 2008

Career

Early years

Katja Nyberg is the daughter of Robert Nyberg, the first Finnish handball player to play professionally abroad.[3] She was born in Stockholm while Robert was living in Sweden. The family later relocated to Finland where she grew up.[4] Nyberg played sports from an early age, mainly javelin throw and other athletics varieties. She started her handball career in Helsinki club Sparta IF with her father as coach.

Club career

Nyberg played for Sparta until she was 18. As handball in Finland was not competitive enough, she decided to pursue a professional career abroad. She first moved to Sweden where she played for Stockholmspolisens IF for one season (1997–1998), then signed a contract with Norwegian club Larvik HK and played there for 7 years (1998–2005).

During her seven seasons in Larvik, Nyberg achieved great success. She was named Player of the Year of the Norwegian league in 2001 and 2005.[5][6] She also won the Cup Winners' Cup in 2004/05 and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2001/02 and 2003/04. By the time she left the club, she had scored an average of 6.65 goals per match, with 765 goals in 115 matches.[7]

In 2005, Nyberg signed a one-year contract with Slovenian champion Krim Ljubljana.[8] However, her season in Ljubljana was prematurely ended in October of that year when she suffered a serious shoulder injury. It required surgery and kept her away from the handball court for nine months.[9] By that time, her relationship with Gro Hammerseng had already become public and both had expressed their desire to play for the same club. They received offers from other clubs, but ultimately chose Ikast, where Hammerseng was already playing.[10][11][12] Nyberg lived in Denmark and played for FC Midtjylland Håndbold for 4 years (2006–2010). On 17 February 2010, she signed a two-year contract with her former club Larvik HK and has played for them since the 2010/11 season.

National team

Katja Nyberg gained Norwegian citizenship on 16 January 2001[13] and made her debut with the national team on 23 March 2001 against France. She was not allowed to play for Norway in official tournaments until 2002[14] because she had competed at the 1999 Junior World Championship qualification for Finland.

Her first major competition as a Norwegian player was the 2002 European Championship where Norway received a silver medal. She then received a gold medal at the 2004 and 2006 European Championships.

Nyberg missed the 2005 World Championship due to the shoulder injury she suffered in Ljubljana,[9] but she was with the team two years later when Norway won the silver medal at the 2007 World Championship in France. She was also voted Most Valuable Player of the tournament.[15] Apart from this individual recognition, one of her biggest achievements with the national team to date was winning the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.[16][17]

Nyberg played a total of 99 games and scored 321 goals for Norway between 2001 and 2008.[2]

National Handball Team results
NORWEGIAN NATIONAL TEAM

European Championship:

  • Gold: 2004, 2006,
  • silver in 2002

World Championship:

  • Silver: 2007

Summer Olympics:

Club Handball results

With: Larvik HK

Norwegian League

  • Gold: 99/00, 00/01, 01/02, 02/03, 04/05
  • Bronze: 03/04

Norwegian Cup

  • Gold: 99/00, 02/03, 03/04, 04/05
  • Silver: 98/99

Norwegian Play-offs

  • Gold: 04/05

EHF Cup Winner's Cup

  • Gold: 04/05

EHF Champions League:

  • Semi-finalist: 01/02, 03/04

With: Ikast-Bording Elitehåndbold

Danish League (DM):

  • Silver: 07/08

EHF Cup:

  • Silver: 06/07

Awards and recognition

References
  1. "Athlete Biography: Nyberg, Katja". Beijing 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-08-22. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  2. "Katja Nyberg" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Handball Federation. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  3. "Katjas suksessoppskrift" (in Norwegian). Speaker.no. 20 November 2007. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  4. "Handbolls-EM 2006 - Grupp B: Norge" (in Swedish). sr.se. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  5. "Årets beste håndballspiller" (in Norwegian). Østlands Posten. 2001-05-05. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  6. "Årets spiller" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Handball Federation. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  7. "Følg Linka til tusen søndag" (in Norwegian). Larvik HK. 2009-01-23. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  8. "Katja til Krim med åpen retur" (in Norwegian). Nettavisen. 2005-01-04. Archived from the original on 2011-05-24. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  9. "Nyberg mister VM" (in Norwegian). Demokraten. 2005-10-31. Archived from the original on 2008-10-29. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  10. Løsnæs, Elisabeth (2005-11-21). "Katja og Gro møtte dansk klubb" (in Norwegian). Østlands-Posten. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  11. Christiansen, Anders K. (2005-11-30). "Superduoen velger Ikast" (in Norwegian). VG NETT. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  12. Jørgensen, Jeanette; Jarle Fredagsvik (2005-12-14). "Norsk supertrio til Ikast" (in Norwegian). VG NETT. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  13. "Katja Nyberg på landslaget" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Handball Federation. 2001-03-13. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  14. "Katja Nyberg først klar for Norge våren 2002" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Handball Federation. 2001-06-18. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  15. "All Star csapatban" (in Hungarian). handball.hu. 16 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
  16. "Olympic Gold for Norway - crushed Russia 34-27" (in Norwegian). Norway Post. 23 August 2008. Archived from the original on February 12, 2009. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  17. "Women's Gold Medal Match - Match 42 / Norway vs Russian Fed". Beijing 2008. 23 August 2008. Archived from the original on 26 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  18. "Katja Nyberg - Sparta" (in Finnish). Sparta IF. Archived from the original on 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
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