Tonje Larsen

Tonje Larsen (born 26 January 1975) is a retired Norwegian handballer who played for the Norwegian national team. She is Olympic champion, World champion and three times European champion. As a club player she is several times Norwegian champion and once Danish champion, and has won the EHF Cup, EHF Cup Winners' Cup and the EHF Champions League.

Personal life Larsen was born in Tønsberg on 26 January 1975. Her first major tournament came when Marit Breivik selected her for the 1994 European Championship in Germany, where she won a bronze medal.

Due to jumper's knee, she was out of the team in 2001 and between 2003 and 2008. Finally, she underwent surgery successfully in 2006. As a side effect of the years she spent injured, Larsen is now considered to be an excellent defense player.

She made her comeback to the national team in 2008, winning a gold medal both at the Summer Olympics in Beijing and at the European Championship held in December in the Republic of Macedonia, where she also made the official All-Star Team as the Best left back of the championship.

As of January 2009, she has played more than 200 matches for the national team, and scored more than 500 goals.

Club career Larsen started playing handball for her hometown club Tønsberg Turn. She was recruited to Larvik HK when Marit Breivik coached the club, and has later played for Larvik, except one year with the Danish club Viborg HK, in the 1998/1999 season. With Viborg she won the Danish championship as well as the Women's EHF Cup.

Her individual awards also include: Player of the year 2002 in the Norwegian League Player of the year 2003 in the Norwegian League Selected into the All-star-team as Best left back at the 2008 European championship