Indeed, Oftedal’s legacy in handball stretches far beyond the titles and medals. The game has been becoming faster and faster over the years, and Oftedal has thrived in that, pushing handball to new limits as she and her teammates for Norway and at Györ were an integral part of showing previously unseen possibilities.
But the legacy of titles and medals is immense. Overall, Oftedal leaves Norway with nine trophies won — three at the World Championship, five at the EHF EURO, and now one at the Olympics. Oftedal’s teammate Katrine Lunde, who was previously the record holder in women’s handball for national team titles won, has now joined Nikola Karabatic — another of the great retirees after Paris 2024 — as the outright leader in this statistic: The two have each won 11 trophies in their country’s jerseys.
Naturally, Oftedal first picked up a handball in her native Norway. “I grew up in a handball family and it was basically written for me to take up the sport,” she said in her This is me story. She started at Nit-Hak and then played at Helset and Stabæk, before transferring to Issy Paris in 2008. Her national team debut came in 2010, although she would not become a core part of the side until the EHF EURO 2014. She became team captain in 2015.
Handball has been and remains an enormous part of Oftedal’s life. Her mother was a player and coach. Her sister Hanna also played the sport, and her brother-in-law, married to Hanna, is Norway men’s team star Sander Sagosen. Last year, Oftedal got engaged to her handball-player boyfriend, German Rune Dahmke, who won the silver medal at Paris 2024 — even more icing on the cake for a perfect career end for Oftedal.
Overall, Oftedal’s career-end medal count for Norway stands at 14. Alongside the titles and numerous international individual awards — a total of six All-star Team nods, including at Paris 2024, and one MVP award at senior national team championships — Oftedal was named 2019 IHF World Player of the Year.
Now, she has won everything there is to win in the sport. On top of that, she has been a key in changing the game to the thrilling fast-paced one we enjoy today. And she has shown what it is to be a leader of a national team, truly spearheading Norway’s success on court. As Oftedal said of the Paris 2024 gold to NRK.no: “It's almost too good to be true. But then it's true nonetheless.”