Norway at the 2004 Summer Olympics was represented by The Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports.

Norway first participated in the 1900 Summer Olympics and has since competed in all Olympic summer games except for the 1904 Games and the 1980 Games which Norway boycotted. Historically, Norway's strongest sports have been sailing and shooting.

Medalists

Results by event

Athletics

Norway's only athletics medal in Athens came as somewhat of a surprise, as Andreas Thorkildsen had placed only 11th at the 2003 Worlds, and qualified for the final in 8th place. However, Thorkildsen set a personal best with his second throw, and was the only thrower to top 85 metres, let alone 86 metres. While he earned three extra throws as part of the top eight, he did not complete any of them, as no one managed to threaten his leading mark.

The only other top-20 places Norway earned in Athletics both came in race walking, as Sydney silver medalist Kjersti Plätzer placed 12th, around a minute behind the medal positions in the women's 20 km walk, and Trond Nymark finished 13th, more than 14 minutes behind, in the men's 50 km event. Both walkers set season bests at the Games.

Men's 5000 metres:

• Marius Bakken
• Heat: 13:36.38 (12th in heat 2, did not advance, 12th overall)

Men's 3000 metre Steeplechase:

• Jim Svenøy
• Heat: 8:33.97 (10th in heat 3, did not advance, 29th overall)

Men's Javelin Throw:

• Ronny Nilsen
• Qualification: 73.46 m (14th in Group A, did not advance, 27th overall)

• Andreas Thorkildsen
• Qualification: 81.74 m (4th in Group A, Qualified, 8th overall)
• Final A: 86.50 m (1st overall, Qualified)
• Final B:: No mark (Best: 86.50 m) (Gold Medal) (Personal Best)

Men's Decathlon:

• Hans Olav Uldal
• 7495 points (27th overall)
• 100 metres: 11.23 s (810 points)
• Long Jump: 6.99 m (811 points) (Total: 1621 points)
• Shot Put: 13.53 m (700 points) (Season Best) (Total: 2321 points)
• High Jump: 1.85 m (670 points) (Total: 2991 points)
• 400 metres: 50.95 s (771 points) (Total: 3762 points)
• 110 metre Hurdles: 15.09 s (839 points) (Total: 4601 points)
• Discus Throw: 43.01 m (726 points) (Total: 5327 points)
• Pole Vault: 4.50 m (760 points) (Total: 6087 points)
• 1500 metres: 4:41.70 (670 points) (Season Best) (Total: 7495 points)

Men's 50 km Walk:

• Trond Nymark
• 3:53.20 (13th overall)

Women's 1500 metres:

• Trine Pilskog
• Heat: 4:08.61 (10th in heat 3, did not advance, 28th overall)

Women's Marathon:

• Stine Larsen
• 2:39:55 (24th overall)

Women's 20 km Walk:

• Kjersti Plätzer
• 1:30.49 (12th overall) (Season Best)

Badminton

Andersen was ranked ahead of only four other players in the draw at the Athens Games, but had the good fortune to draw one of those four in his opening round match against Yang. He won a three-set match over the Guatemalan, but fell to the eventual bronze medalist in the second round in straight sets.

Men's Singles:

• Jim Ronny Andersen
• Round of 32: Defeated Pedro Yang of Guatemala (15 - 9, 8 - 15, 15 - 6)
• Round of 16: Lost to (8) Soni Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia (7 - 15, 6 - 15)

Canoeing

Flatwater

Eirik Verås Larsen was part of both Norwegian medal winning boats in Athens, including the K-1 1000 metres, an event in which Larsen was the World Champion. Larsen handily won the 1000 metres, earning the third consecutive gold medal for Norway in the event. In his other individual event, the 500 metres, Larsen finished 4th, just two-tenths of a second from a silver medal. In the K2 1000 metres, Larsen added a bronze medal with Nils Olav Fjeldheim, this time finishing less than a tenth of a second from silver.

Men's K1 500m:

• Eirik Verås Larsen
• Heat: 1:36.905 (1st in heat 1, advanced to semifinal)
• Semifinal: 1:38.361 (1st in semifinal 1, advanced to final)
• Final: 1:38.667 (4th overall)

Men's K1 1000m:

• Eirik Verås Larsen
• Heat: 3:25.150 (1st in heat 3, Qualified)
• Final: 3:25.897 (Gold Medal)

Men's K2 1000m:

• Eirik Verås Larsen and Nils Olav Fjeldheim
• Heat: 3:09.247 (1st in heat 2, Qualified)
• Final: 3:19.528 (Bronze Medal)

Men's K4 1000m:

• Jacob Norenberg, Alexander Wefald, Andreas Gjersøe and Mattis Næss
• Heat: 2:54.894 (4th in heat 2, advanced to semifinal)
• Semifinal: 2:54.350 (2nd in semifinal 2, advanced to final)
• Final: 3:01.698 (5th overall)

Cycling

Mountain Bike

Gunn-Rita Dahle entered the Games having won both the World Cup and World Championships. Dahle was third exiting the start loop, but quickly took the lead, and while two Canadian riders stayed with her in the first lap, she quickly pulled free, and won by a full minute.

Women's Cross-Country:

• Gunn-Rita Dahle
• 1:56.51 (Gold Medal)

Road

Three of the four Norweigan entrants in the men's road race pulled out before the finish, but Kurt Asle Arvesen attacked 28 kilometres from the finish, and was part of a leading foursome, but was eventually caught by the group and ended up 9th. None of the other riders in any event managed to get into a leading position during their races.

Men's Road Race:

• Kurt Asle Arvesen
• 5:41:56 (9th overall, 0:12 behind)

• Morten Hegreberg
• Did not finish

• Thor Hushovd
• Did not finish

• Mads Kaggestad
• Did not finish

Hushovd and Kaggestad pulled out after 10 laps, having fallen behind. Hegreberg survived for one more lap before quitting.

Men's Time Trial:

• Kurt Asle Arvesen
• 1:02:21.28 (28th overall, 4:50 behind)

• Thor Hushovd
• 1:03:10.36 (32nd overall, 5:39 behind)

Women's Road Race:

• Anita Valen
• 3:25:42 (14th overall, 1:18 behind)

• Lene Byberg
• 3:33:35 (48th overall, 9:11 behind)

• Linn Torp
• 3:40:43 (53rd overall, 16:19 behind)

Women's Time Trial:

• Anita Valen
• 34:31.94 (22nd overall, 3:20 behind)

Rowing

Two-time world champion Olaf Tufte handily won both his heat and his semifinal, and in the final held off an Estonian rower over the last 500 metres to win by more than two seconds.

Men's Single Sculls:

• Olaf Tufte
• Heat: 7:12.53 (1st in heat 4, advanced to semifinal A/B/C)
• Semifinal A/B/C: 6:50.55 (1st in semifinal A/B/C 2, advanced final A)
• Final A: 6:49.30 (Gold Medal)

• Nils-Torolv Simonsen and Morten Gundro Adamsen
• Heat: 6:45.26 (2nd in heat 3, advanced to semifinal A/B)
• Semifinal A/B: 6:14.69 (T-3rd in semifinal A/B 1, advanced final A)
• Final A: 6:37.25 (7th overall)

Sailing

World champion Siren Sundby pulled into an early lead in the Women's Europe, and after a pair of bad showings dropped her to second place, she won three consecutive races to pull well ahead of her closest chaser, winning by almost 20 points. In the 49er, Sundby and Bovim also took an early lead, but struggled heavily in the middle section of the competition, dropping as low as 8th. They also had a strong finish, but could get no closer than 4th. The other three boats were not in medal contention.

Women's Mistral:

• Jannicke Stålstrøm
• 107 points (11th overall)

Women's Europe:

• Siren Sundby
• 47 points (Gold Medal)

Women's Yngling:

• Karianne Eikeland, Beate Kristiansen and Lise Birgitte Fredriksen
• 85 points (9th overall)

Open Laser:

• Peer Moberg
• 198 points (21st overall)

Open 49er:

• Christoffer Sundby and Frode Bovim
• 88 points (4th overall)

Shooting

Only one Norwegian shooter managed to advance to a final, as Harald Jensen survived two shoot-off rounds to squeak into the final of the Men's Skeet. Jensen had the worst final round in that event, ending up 6th. The only other top-10 performance from a Norwegian shooter also came in the skeet, as Erik Watndal fell just one shot short of being part of the shoot-off for a final place.

Men's 50 metre Rifle 3 Positions:

• Espen Berg-Knutsen
• Qualification: 1156 points (Prone: 399, Standing: 374, Kneeling: 383, T-22nd overall, did not advance)

• Harald Stenvaag
• Qualification: 1149 points (Prone: 396, Standing: 368, Kneeling: 385, 30th overall, did not advance)

Men's 50 metre Rifle Prone:

• Espen Berg-Knutsen
• Qualification: 592 points (T-16th overall, did not advance)

• Harald Stenvaag
• Qualification: 592 points (T-16th overall, did not advance)

Men's 10 metre Air Rifle:

• Espen Berg-Knutsen
• Qualification: 584 points (T-41st overall, did not advance)

• Leif Rune Rolland
• Qualification: 592 points (T-18th overall, did not advance)

Men's Skeet:

• Harald Jensen
• Qualification: 122 points (Shoot-off: 5 points) (6th overall, Qualified)
• Final:23 points (Total: 145 points) (6th overall)

• Erik Watndal
• Qualification: 121 points (8th overall, did not advance)

Swimming

Norway's only swimmer in Athens was less than two-tenths of a second from qualifying for the semifinals, but ended up 21st.

Men's 100 metre Breaststroke:

• Alexander Dale Oen
• 1:02.25 (21st overall, did not advance)

Taekwondo

Solheim won her first match in Athens fairly easily, but down 5-4 in her quarterfinal match, suffered an injury and withdrew from the match. She was drawn into the repechage, but her injury meant she was forced to withdraw from this match as well.

Women's 67 kg:

• Nina Solheim
• Round of 16: Defeated Sandra Saric of Croatia (5 - 2)
• Quarterfinal: Lost to Luo Wei of China (RSC; Round 3, 1:05) (advanced to first repechage round)
• Repechage Round 1: Lost to Hwang Kyung-Sun of Korea (withdrawal)

Volleyball

Beach

Only one of the four Norwegian pairs, Høidalen and Kjemperud, managed to get out of pool play, despite the fact that every team managed to win at least one match. Both men's pairs gave the eventual gold medalists Ricardo and Emanuel trouble, managing to force a third set both in pool play and the round of 16. The overall record for Norway in Beach Volleyball in Athens was 5-8.

Men's Competition:

• Bjørn Maaseide and Iver Horrem
• Pool A
• Lost to Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego of Brazil (15 - 21, 21 - 19, 10 - 15)
• Defeated Daxton Holdren and Stein Metzger of the United States (16 - 21, 22 - 20, 15 - 9)
• Lost to Andrew Schacht and Joshua Slack of Australia (18 - 21, 17 - 21)
• 4th in pool, did not advance (1 W, 2 L, 3 SW, 5 SL)

• Vegard Høidalen and Jørre Kjemperud
• Pool D
• Lost to Bjorn Berg and Simon Dahl of Sweden (13 - 21, 18 - 21)
• Defeated Ramon Hernandez and Raul Papaleo of Puerto Rico (18 - 21, 21 - 19, 15 - 10)
• Defeated Markus Dieckmann and Jonas Reckermann of Germany (22 - 24, 26 - 24, 15 - 13)
• 3rd in pool, Qualified (2 W, 1 L, 4 SW, 4 SL)
• Round of 16: Lost to Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego of Brazil (15 - 21, 21 - 19, 6 - 15)

Women's Competition:

• Nila Håkedal and Ingrid Tørlen
• Pool C
• Defeated Susanne Lahme and Danja Musch of Germany (13 - 21, 21 - 17, 15 - 12)
• Lost to Ana Paula Connelly and Sandra Pires of Brazil (18 - 21, 19 - 21)
• Lost to Efthalia Koutroumanidou and Vasiliki Arvaniti of Greece (11 - 21, 23 - 21, 12 - 15)
• 4th in pool, did not advance (1 W, 2 L, 3 SW, 6 SL)

• Kathrine Maaseide and Susanne Glesnes
• Pool D
• Lost to Guylaine Dumont and Annie Martin of Canada (19 - 21, 27 - 29)
• Defeated Nicole Schnyder and Simone Kuhn of Switzerland (21 - 18, 17 - 21, 15 - 13)
• Lost to Holly McPeak and Elaine Youngs of the United States (14 - 21, 14 - 21)
• 3rd in pool, did not advance (1 W, 2 L, 2 SW, 5 SL)

Weightlifting

Men's +105 kg:

• Stian Grimseth
• Did not finish

Grimseth completed a lift of 185.0 kg in the snatch, but missed a Clean & Jerk attempt of 205.0 kg before pulling out. This would have placed him 12th if he had completed it.

Wrestling

Greco-Roman

Norway's only wrestler in Athens lost both of his matches, scoring only a single point and finishing last in his pool. Aanes had finished fourth in Sydney, but was stripped of that result after failing a doping test.

Men's 84 kg:

• Fritz Aanes
• Pool 3
• Lost to Dimitrios Avramis of Greece (1 - 5)
• Lost to Behrouz Jamshidi of Iran (0 - 3; 6:10)
• 3rd in pool, did not advance (1 TP, 1 CP, 15th overall)

Non-competing Athletes

Erik Tysse was on the start list of the Men's 20 kilometre walk, but pulled out before the event.

References

• Official Report of the XXVIII Olympiad

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