Norway at the 2018 Winter Paralympics facts for kids

Norway sent its best athletes to compete in the 2018 Winter Paralympics! These exciting games took place in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Norwegian athletes showed their skills in sports like para-alpine skiing, para-Nordic skiing, para-snowboarding, sledge hockey, and wheelchair curling.

Meet Team Norway

Here are the amazing athletes who were part of Team Norway at the 2018 Winter Paralympics:

Owe Lüthcke, a referee for sledge hockey, was also part of the Norwegian group in Pyeongchang. He helped make sure the games were fair.

Norway's Paralympic History

At the 2014 Winter Paralympics, Norway sent 31 athletes. This included 25 men and 6 women. They had a great performance, winning a total of 4 medals:

• 1 gold medal
• 2 silver medals
• 1 bronze medal

Goals for the Games

Before the 2018 Winter Paralympics, the Nord-Trøndelag County Council in Norway had some important goals. They wanted to:

• Encourage more people to join in sports for athletes with disabilities.
• Make sports buildings and fields in Nord-Trøndelag County and other parts of Norway easier for everyone to use.

Anti-Doping Efforts

In December 2017, Norway decided not to send its own anti-doping officials to the Winter Olympics or Paralympics. These officials help make sure athletes compete fairly and don't use banned substances. Norway felt that these important officials should be paid for their work, not rely on volunteers.

Anders Solheim, who leads Anti-doping Norway, explained that if big events like the Paralympics make a lot of money from TV rights, then the people who help with fair play should be paid properly. He believes that anti-doping work is very important and should not be a volunteer job.

Para-Nordic Skiing

Para-Nordic skiing includes both cross-country skiing and biathlon (a mix of skiing and shooting). Athletes compete in different categories depending on their disability.

Skiers to Watch

Birgit Skarstein is an amazing athlete who competes in two sports! She does both adapted rowing and para-Nordic skiing. She won a gold medal at the 2017 World Rowing Championships. Birgit also competed in the 2016 Summer Paralympics, where she finished fourth in rowing. She also competed in para-Nordic skiing at the 2014 Winter Paralympics.

Schedule and Results

Here's when some of the exciting Para-Nordic skiing events took place:

• March 12: The 15 km race for women (standing and visually impaired) started at 10:00 PM.
• March 14: Sprint classic qualification rounds for both men and women in all classes happened from 10:00 AM to 11:25 AM. The semifinals and finals followed later that afternoon.
• March 17: The classic race for women (standing and visually impaired) took place from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM.

Sledge Hockey

Sledge hockey is an exciting sport similar to ice hockey, but players sit on sleds and use two short sticks with picks on the ends to move across the ice and hit the puck.

Team History

Norway's sledge hockey team did very well at the 2017 Sledge Hockey World Championships. They finished in the top four, which earned them a spot to compete at the 2018 Winter Paralympics.

Before the Paralympics, Norway played in a tournament in Japan. They lost to the host country, South Korea, with a score of 0-5 in the gold medal game. They also played in another tournament in Turin in January 2018, where they lost to Italy 4-3 in overtime.

Team Roster

Lena Schroeder made history as the only woman competing in sledge hockey at the 2018 Winter Paralympics. While both men and women can play together in this sport, it's rare to see women at the Paralympic level.

Here are the players on Norway's sledge hockey team:

Schedule and Results

In the sledge hockey competition, Norway was in Group A with Canada, Italy, and Sweden.

Here's how their group looked:

Team	GP	W	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Canada
Italy
Norway
Sweden

Here were some of Norway's sledge hockey matches:

March 10, 2018 12:00 KST

Norway

12:00 KST

Italy

Gangneung Hockey Centre

March 12, 2018 15:30 KST

Norway

15:30 KST

Canada

Gangneung Hockey Centre

March 13, 2018 15:30 MSK

Norway

15:30 MSK

Sweden

Gangneung Hockey Centre

Wheelchair Curling

Wheelchair curling is a team sport played on ice, similar to regular curling, but adapted for athletes who use wheelchairs. Players slide stones across the ice towards a target area.

The wheelchair curling competition began on March 10. On that day, Norway played against Great Britain. They also played against Sweden on March 13.

See also

In Spanish: Noruega en los Juegos Paralímpicos de Pyeongchang 2018 para niños