Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bjørn Daehli who, at the 1998 Olympics, won his eighth gold medal, making him the most
successful athlete in Winter Olympics history.
The word 'slalom' derives from the Norwegian words
sla låm,
or 'slope track', which originally referred to
a Nordic ski competition that wove over hill and dale, dodging thickets!
Football
Football (soccer) is another hugely popular sport, with the domestic league season running
fromMarchtoearlyNovember.Trondheim'sRosenbergisthemostsuccessfulclubinNor-
wegian history with 21 league titles, including 13 consecutive years from 1992 until 2004;
the club again won the title in 2006 and 2009.
At a national level, the Norwegian men's football team climbed briefly to 2nd in FIFA's
world rankings in 1993, but by August 2010 had fallen to 22nd, and the failure to qualify
forthe2002,2006and2010WorldCupshascastapallofgloomoverthesportinNorway.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Tore Andre Flo and John Carew are among Norway's most famous
football exports.
The Norwegian women's national team has strutted the world stage with much greater
success, clinching the Women's World Cup in 1995 and the gold medal at the Sydney
Olympics in 2000; the team came 4th at the 1999 and 2007 World Cups and had dropped
to 7th in the world rankings by May 2010. Its best-known players are Heidi Støre, who
played 151 times for Norway between 1980 and 1997; and Bente Nordby, the goalkeeper
who saved US superstar Mia Hamm's penalty en route to a famous tournament victory in
1995.
