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Else-Marthe Sørlie Lybekk

Else-Marthe Sørlie Lybekk
Portrait else-marthe-sorlie-lybekk 1.jpg
Personal information
Born (1978-09-11) 11 September 1978 (age 38)
Gjøvik, Norway
Nationality Norwegian
Height 1.78 m
Playing position Line player
Club information
Current club Nordstrand IF
Number 30
Senior clubs
0000
0000
0000–2003
2003–2008
2008–
Snertingdal IF
Toten HK
Nordstrand IF
HC Leipzig
Nordstrand IF
National team 1
1997–2008 Norway 215 (598)
1 National team caps and goals correct
as of 5 April 2010

Else-Marthe Sørlie Lybekk (née Sørlie, born 11 September 1978 in Gjøvik) is a retired Norwegian team handball player, world champion from 1999, gold medalist from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and bronze medalist from the 2000 Olympics. She is also a triple European champion with the Norwegian national team, which she previously captained prior to the reign of fellow Gjøvik handballer Gro Hammerseng. She is the only player on the Norwegian team that received all the first five gold medals that the national team won up to the 2008 Olympics. Ending her career for Nordstrand in her second spell, she has previously played for Leipzig, Nordstrand, Snertingdal and Toten.

2 November 1997, Sørlie Lybekk debuted in a friendly against Germany, marking the beginning of a long career for the Norwergian side. She participated in consecutive international championships from her debut in the 1998 European Championships until the 2008 Olympics, except for the 2004 European Championships where she was dropped after having suffered injuries preventing her from a necessary build-up, and the World Championships the following year. At the 2004 European championship she was not included in the main team, but was listed as home reserve. When Isabel Blanco injured her thumb during the championship, Sørlie Lybekk was called to join the team, and received a gold medal from the championship without playing. Before the 2000 Olympics, she was named vice-captain for Kjersti Grini, and when Grini withdrew from the 2000 European Championships she captained her national team at the age of 22 at a difficult moment when many experienced players had recently retired. She remained in this position until the 2003 World Championship where Gro Hammerseng took over the captaincy. The tournament was disappointing for both the squad and Sørlie Lybekk, as they finished 6th in the tournament keeping them out of the Olympic tournament the following year.


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