Blood clots could have meant the end of her career.
Instead, handball star Nina Koppang, 22, is in Paris and achieving Olympic success.
I feel gratitude and pride to be here, says the Sävehof star.
Olympic premiere and nightmare opponents. That can make any debutant tremble.
Not Nina Koppang.
She thundered in seven goals when Sweden defeated Norway for the first time in seven years and got a dream start in the Olympic tournament (32–28).
It's perhaps the best match she's ever played in her life. Almost everything went in, says national team coach Tomas Axnér at a press conference in the Olympic village a few days later.
She herself states:
It's definitely the national team match I'm most satisfied with.
I feel secure, know what I can do and what they (teammates and coaches) want to get out of me.
Had trouble breathing
Just two years ago, Nina Koppang feared that her career was over. She had trouble breathing during a Champions League match in January 2022.
She initially thought it was the coronavirus or that she had lost a lot of condition after an injury, but it turned out that she had developed blood clots in her lungs.
She received medication and was forbidden to participate in contact sports for six months. In August the same year, she made her comeback.
How do you look back on the illness?
It's been a process, not just physically but also mentally. But I feel – a bit cliché – that it's made me stronger.
I realized that when I didn't have handball every day, I missed it a lot. Then it became even more obvious that it's worth it, all the training.
Has daily contact
The games in Paris could have become a family affair for Nina Koppang. She is the half-sister of Stina Blackstenius, attacking star in Arsenal and the Swedish national football team.
But the football ladies failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time.
We have daily contact. I wish she was here. But she's very happy for my sake.
Will she come and watch?
I don't know. That was the plan from the start, but now they've started up with the club.
On Sunday, Sweden will face Germany in the second group stage match in the Olympics.
