Norway and Spain played a memorable EURO Final in Skopje. After an equal first half, there were no questions about the winner of the title.
When the players left the court – no matter Norwegian or Spanish – they were all smiling and proud of their achievements. Here's a collection of their first words of joy (or sorrow) after the game.
One of the most successful handball coaches ever, the Norwegian Marit Breivik, commented:
“I’m very satisfied with this gold medal because we couldn’t expect this. We had to build a new team and had to integrate new players after the Olympic Games. I expected that the EURO would be harder for us, especially with little time for preparation.”
Key player of the winning team, Karoline Breivang, was overjoyed:
”We are the queens of Europe! This is real fun and a fantastic feeling to win the EURO again.”
Kari Mette Johansen has also won EURO title before:
“It seems that we are really good at European Championships. It’s great fun to keep our good record…”
The Norwegian side is full of special records. Goalkeeper Katrine Lunde Haraldsen, winner of three EURO gold and one silver medal, made reference to this:
“This is almost an historic deed.”
The greatest record holder, Tonje Larsen, has five EURO medals - two gold, two silver and a bronze. She says:
“I’m very happy to be in the All-Star Team. In addition, I am there with two twins: that is another historic achievement,” she says jokingly.
Satisfied Spanish team
There was no disappointment on the losing side either. Coach Jorge Duenas commented on the final game and on the tournament:
“Silver is like gold for us. We never expected to come this far at the tournament. Norway were the best team at the EURO, no doubt. The first and the second half were completely different. I hope that our silver medal will help Spanish women’s handball to develop. I think that the team will have more major tournaments and maybe reach more finals, as the players are young and the have a lot of will inside.”
Left wing Elisabeth Pinedo added:
“We are very glad with this silver medal. We made too many mistakes in the second half and it sealed the game.”
The superb goalkeeper of Spain, Micaela Ciobanu, said:
“The final was not equal after the break. Norway have more experience and they are Olympic champions. We don’t have such big experience.”
