Paris 2024 Olympics - Handball - Women's Victory Ceremony - Lille, Pierre Mauroy Stadium, Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France - August 10, 2024. Norway players and team members pose with their gold medals REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
PARIS (Reuters) - Norway looked set to miss their eight-medal target by a considerable distance at the Paris Games, but a slew of tremendous performances that led to podium finishes on the final Saturday saw them make it by the skin of their teeth.
Entering the penultimate day of competition in Paris, the Norwegians had nabbed a paltry three medals, but a golden Saturday sparked joy in a country better known as a powerhouse in winter sports.
"For us who are very close to a Norwegian elite sport, we were clear that we thought it was an offensive and demanding goal. It was understood during the Games that it was a demanding goal, but then came 'Super Saturday', which sorted out all the talk about the medals," Norway chef de mission Tore Ovrebo told a media conference on Sunday.
Gold medals for Jakob Ingebrigtsen (men's 5000m), Solfrid Koanda (women's 81kg weightlifting) and the women's handball team on Saturday were complemented by bronze medals for the beach vollyball team of Anders Mol and Christian Soerum, and one for freestyle wrestler Grace Bullen, giving a total of eight medals overall.
"We had a fantastic day yesterday which ensured that we reached the goal, but it was by hanging by a hair," Ovrebo said.
Asked about Games in Los Angeles in 2028, Ovrebo pointed to an unlikely headache that the Norwegian Olympic Committee might have to face - the current relative weakness of the country's currency.
"I'm afraid that if the crown continues to slide in the same way and interest rates remain high, it could become very expensive, so it may be that we have to make some compromises that we really do not want to make, professionally speaking, because of the cost level," he said.
"I'm very nervous about that."
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
