Mørk and her partner, Swedish international Jerry Tollbring, welcomed their daughter Tyra in May. They announced their pregnancy in October — not long after Mørk had celebrated a long-awaited Olympic gold medal with Norway.
“We have been quite lucky. She is a very kind and sweet little baby girl, so we are really enjoying it, but of course, it's a lot of planning — more planning than we're used to. The family meetings are now necessary to go through to get everything to work,” says Mørk.
“I was really happy when I actually found out that I was pregnant, so that I would have a natural break. My body needed it also — to have a break after the Olympics and after some years with a lot of games, so the timing was excellent, I must say. Also, we were, of course, very fortunate that it worked out so fast so well, and I had a good pregnancy.”
The naturally imposed break from handball was perfect for Mørk regarding more than just the physical side — it also served as a mental refresher that has helped her come back to feeling herself in a certain way.
“I started to miss myself and to play handball again, and that was exactly the feeling I was waiting for — to get excited to be back,” says Mørk. “You're out of your job — like, almost for eight months, where you can't do your job, so that’s been in a way strange, but it has helped a lot. I started to miss handball, and I was really looking forward to coming back and it's worked out well.”
Seeing players off for maternity leave, then returning to the court and delivering at the top level not so long after, has become increasingly common. That ability to come back fast relies on keeping up with training throughout the pregnancy, and Mørk has several teammates between her club and national sides that have paved the way in that, with the help and support of the experts around them.
“I had a good pregnancy,” says Mørk. “I was tired a lot, but that was it. I was not really sick or anything, so I was training as long as I could, quite normal, and then, of course, the last couple of weeks were different.
“We have a lot of Norwegian players especially with good experience and also the physical coaches from the national team have a lot of experience. I think that helped a lot, of course, but again, every pregnancy is different and everyone who is becoming a mom has a different experience. I think that it was fortunate for me that I'm not the first one doing this, so I have a lot of help, and I could train quite well.”