Briefly about Camilla
Camilla's full name is Camilla Røseler Andersen. She was born July 5, 1973 and raised in Bagsværd. The
169 centimetre tall Camilla has grew up with handball. Both of her parents and her brother and sister were or are
good handball players. For many years she worked at a travel agency, Rejsegalleriet in
Copenhagen, and in 2002 she startet the travel agency Travelsense together with two others.
Camilla was the leader of the Danish handball players' union for several years. In 2000 she married
the famous Norwegian female handball player Mia Hundvin (separated 3 years later).
Camilla is one of the best female handball players in the world today, maybe the very best. She is an eminent
playmaker due to her scoring ability, as well as, her technical and creative playing style. Already as a young
player she was very good and she has had no serious injuries. So even though she's only 27 years-old, she has
already been a very important player on different club teams and the Danish national team for many years.
| Handball player: |
Camilla Røseler Andersen |
| Nationality: |
 Danish |
| Birth: |
July 5, 1973
|
| Height: |
169 cm
|
| Weight: |
64 kg
|
| Family status: |
Divorced
|
| Occupation: |
Travel agent
|
| Position: |
Playmaker and left/right back
|
| Team: |
 FCK
|
| Previous Teams: |
Slagelse (2001-2004)
FIF (1997-2001)
 Bækkelaget (1996-1997)
 Buxtehude (1993-1996)
Nordstrand (1992-1993)
FIF (1991-1992)
Virum-Sorgenfri (1985-1991)
|
| National Team debut: |
February 1992
|
| Matches for Denmark: |
194
|
| Goals for Denmark: |
846
|
| Achievements: |
Most goals for Denmark
2004: Champions League-gold, DC-silver, Playmaker of the year (Danish legue)
2003: Top scorer in Danish League, DC-gold, Playmaker of the year (Danish legue), Player of the year (Danish legue), EHF-Cup-gold
2002: Winner of Danish Cup, Top scorer in Danish League, Playmaker of the year (Danish legue)
2000: Olympic gold, DC-silver, Top scorer in Danish League
1999: Top scorer in Danish League, No.2 player of the year (world)
1998: EC-silver (All Star Team), Top scorer in Danish League
1997: WC-gold (All Star Team), NC-gold, Danish cup winner
1996: Olympic gold, EC-gold, Playmaker of the year in Germany
1995: WC-bronze, City-Cup-winner
1994: EC-gold (All Star Team)
1993: WC-silver
|
Camilla's playing style
Camilla Andersen can handle more positions on the handball court than most players. She is a right-handed back
who shifts between the three back positions. Earlier in her career she played a lot as a right-back, but more
recently she has been used in the middle and on the left. Once in a while she has been used as a left-wing.
It has been said that her skills are best used in the role of playmaker role.
As a back Camilla is short, but she's very flexible so it doesn't seem to be a problem. Camilla is often
characterised as a creative player that reads the game very well and who is able to control the game.
Often, on both club and national teams, we have seen that she can feed wing and line players, like no one else
can, with elegant and camouflaged throws. She is also a technically gifted player with an extensive shooting
repertoire. Both on her club and national teams she frequently takes penalty shots, which almost always end
up as goals. Camilla is capable really hard and well-placed shots, even when the pressure is intense. At
the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, we saw her live up to her nickname, "Ice-cold", when she scored the match
winner against France, on a penalty shot in overtime. The goal landed Denmark in the semi-finals.
Camilla has also mastered several trick shots. If the team she is playing for is leading by several goals,
she's known to do a pirouette before scoring on a penalty shot. On offence Camilla is impressive, but she
is seldom praised for her work on defence. Since she is perceived as the player that scores most on her
team, opposing teams cover her all the time, something she doesn't like at all. Her style of play has been
called Bohemian and she's been accused of being unfocused and uneven in her play. Camilla says she plays
at will and is most motivated when there's a lot at stake. She has often proved that she is at her best when
it really matters. On the other hand, both audiences and sports journalists have been spoiled with Camilla's
creative and technical details over the years, so it's hard for Camilla to get good reviews in the press.
Camilla playing on club teams
Camilla has played for several clubs, both in and outside of Denmark. As a very young player she played for
Virum-Sorgenfri, then a short while for Frederiksberg (1991-92). After that, when she turned 18, followed
a long period abroad as a professional player. In 1992-93 she played for the Norwegian team Nordstrand.
It was a period she has characterized as a tough learning experience and unfortunately she didn’t get to
play a lot there. She then spent three years in Germany where she played for Buxtehude (1993-96). With that
club she won City Cup in 1995 and was named Playmaker of the year in 1995/96. In an interview she has said
that the three years in Germany were her best years in handball. Camilla then went back to Norway, this
time for Bækkelaget (1996-97). That season her club won the Norwegian Cup and she was the team’s top
scorer. On several occasions Camilla has said it wasn’t a good year for her. The club didn’t reach their
goal and there was a lot of media attention surrounding them, something she later referred to when she
decided not to play for Tertnes in 2000, and also when she quit the national team following the
Sydney Olympics. Since 1997 Camilla’s been playing for Frederiksberg (FIF) again.
XX
Before FIF (photo album)
In spite of the fact that Camilla has played, both on club and national teams, she’s also managed to
get an education and now works full-time. Her return to the FIF has made them much stronger and she’s
definitely the most important player on the team. She’s the team captain and wears the number 73
(the year of her birth) on her jersey. FIF won the Danish Cup in 1997 and they took the silver in the
league in 1999. Camilla has been the top scorer three seasons in a row in the Danish league
(1997/98, 1998/99 and 1999/2000). Before the 2000/01 season, it looked like she might switch clubs,
most likely to the Norwegian club Tertnes, the club her spouse, Mia Hundvin, was playing for at the
time. That didn’t happen, so instead Mia came to play for FIF. When the league broke for Christmas,
Camilla shared the number one spot as FIF’s top scorer. In itself that’s good, but for her, she is
behind schedule, as she’s been number one in Denmark for three years in a row. As for FIF, the team
was in fifth place at the league break. However, Camilla will play in Champions League, since
Frederiksberg managed to qualify before Christmas, however they weren’t so lucky regarding group they
ended up in.
XX Scoring statistics (diagram)
XX Camdance (animation)
XX FIF player (photo album)
In the 2001/02 season, Camilla and Mia started playing for Slagelse, with Camilla becoming captain of
the team and once again wearing the number 73 on her jersey. She started the season very strong, and it
just continued. When the season ended, she has at the top of the scoring list in Danish league with
187 goals. The scoring statistics show that she had a better scoring average than
in her previous season. In one match, which was shown on TV, Camilla was punished
with red card after 23 minutes
of play. Her penalty shot hit the Randers' goalkeeper in the head. The decision was controversial, because
the goalkeeper had moved into the balls path. In typical Camilla fashion, she handled the situation very
calmly, but it didn't stop an even more controversial decision from the Danish Handball Federation. They
suspended Camilla for another match at the request of the referees, doing so without even studying the
video evidence, which would prove she was innocent. The media was on Camilla's side in this. They said
it was insane that a fair player like Camilla should punished like that. However, Slagelse made a smart
move that allowed Camilla to sit out her match penalty during an unimportant cup match instead of
an important league match. Not surprisingly Camilla was named "Playmaker of the Year" in the Danish league.
Before the season 2002/03 started Slagelse made their team stronger by adding players like
Bojana Petrovic and Ausra Fridrikas. This meant that Camilla could concentrate more on her role as
playmaker, a role she has often said she likes most. Even though there were more players to share
the shooting responsibility, this didn't mean that Camilla was less dangerous in front of the net.
It was a dream season for Camilla. Many observers have said that it was season was her best ever.
First Slagelse won the Danish Cup and after that the Danish Championship.
Camilla was once again named "Best Playmaker" in the Danish league, but this time she also was
named "Player of the Year". Camilla scored 215 goals in 22 matches and was top scorer in the league.
In the 6 seaons since Camilla has returned to Denmark, she's been the leading scorer 5 times. This
was the first time the top scorer scored more than 200 goals. In the last match Camilla scored 21 times!
Slagelse also won the EHF Cup, making Slagelse's and Camilla's success complete. Camilla has signed
a contract that will keep her with Slagelse for two more years. There's no doubt what the goal is
for Slagelse and Camilla next season: victory in Champions League.
XX Scoring statistics (diagram)
XX Red card (animation)
XX Slagelse player (photo album)
Camilla on The National Team
Camilla has played for a long time on the national team, so we’ll focus on the period she was on the
A-team. She made her debut in February 1992 and has participated in every international championship
since 1993, including the 2000 Olympics. She’s played 194 games on the national A-team,
scoring 846 goals and holds the Danish record for scoring the most goals on the national team.
She’s participated in winning medals in several championships. In the European championships,
Denmark won gold in 1994 and 1996, and silver in 1998. As for the World Championships, Denmark won
gold in 1997, silver in 1993 and bronze in 1995. The best however was gold in the Olympics, both in
1996 and 2000. During the European Championships in 1994, World Championships in 1997 and
European Championships in 1998, Camilla was a member of All-Star Team as playmaker.
You could say Camilla has gained more and more responsibility on the national team. When she made her
debut on the national team, she was a young and talented player with a great potential. Her main
contribution was her ability to shoot and her technical skills. After Anja Andersen left the national
team, greater responsibility was placed on her shoulders. On the national team she was the vice-captain,
but during the last few years she has been considered the central player on the team. Camilla was used
more and more as a playmaker and after the triumphs during 1996, many players left
the national team. She became a major contributor, though still a fairly young player. Even
if Camilla didn’t seem to be as dominant as Anja Andersen on the court, because she was much calmer,
Denmark depended on Camilla to play well in order for the team to achieve good results. This was easy
to see during the Sydney Olympics, a championship we’ll focus on a lot here, since it could be her last
as a member of the national team.
XX The Natioanal Team (photo album)
XX Activities with The Natioanal Team (photo album)
The time leading up to the Sydney Olympics wasn’t the best for Camilla. There was a lot of media
attention towards her and Mia Hundvin. It focused on the fact that she and Mia might trade handball
secrets and how tough it might be for the newlyweds to face-off on the court. During the weeks before
the Olympics, a huge deal was made of the fact that they would play against each other in the opening
game. The game itself shouldn’t have been a problem, but because of the media, it became a pressure.
The focus on the match between Norway and Denmark wasn’t about sports and it got worse, when the
fact that Mia and Camilla were married, was removed from the Olympics’ official website without their
knowledge. When it was discovered, the resulting effect was the opposite of what officials intended.
The international media made a big deal of it. The America magazine Sports Illustrated (23 million readers)
published a four-page article, "In Love and War", about the handball couple during the championship.
This gave the Danish and Norwegian media a new excuse to continue focusing on their personal life.
In spite all this Camilla Andersen played very well. Typically she
came through when it really mattered. The first serious obstacle was a very even game versus France
in the quarterfinals that included overtime. Camilla kept her cool and scored the match winner.
The French goal-keeper’s attempt to throw her off-balance didn’t work as Camilla delivered a
cannon-shot, ending the match in Denmark’s favour. In the finals versus Hungary, it seemed that
Hungary would win with less than 15 minutes left. Camilla proceeded to score four times in a row,
helping the Danes regain their confidence. Her effort in turning the match around was rewarded with
an Olympic gold medal, which few thought Denmark would get this time.
XX Camilla goes for Olympic gold in Sydney (montage)
XX Olympics in Sydney 2000 (photo album)
XX Camilla at the Olympics 2000 (animation)
The media was ungrateful and disrespectful, in contributing to the difficulties Camilla experienced
before, during and after the Olympics, because they wouldn’t allow her had her girlfriend their
privacy, in spite of direct warnings that enough was enough. In addition to the couple themselves,
coaches and team-mates also reacted to the continuous digging into Camilla and Mia’s personal life.
Attempts to blame the couple for doing a few candid interviews don’t hold water. Their open approach
should have satisfied the curiosity of some and the "love story" should have lost it news value.
Some so-called serious sports journalists couldn’t focus on the sports, even during the Olympics!
Something that should’ve been viewed as nice and natural was portrayed as a problem and as a revelation.
Camilla’s good performance in the Olympics was lost in the media compared to the news of her and Mia
as a couple.
Hopefully this is not the last paragraph under this headline, because this one is about Camilla Andersen
turning down further opportunities to play for the national team following the Sydney Olympics.
The sad reason she quit: the media coverage concerning her and Mia was too hard to handle. She hasn’t
closed the door altogether concerning a comeback, but claims it isn’t likely. Lets hope we get to see
her again in the red sweater with the number 4 on her back!
Montages
Camilla albums
Camilla links
Camilla Andersen's own site
Slagelse's site (her team)
Caroline's site about Camilla
Mette's handball corner's page about Camilla
C-4 unofficial fan page
Ida's site
Camilla interview (Danish) DR 11.02.03 (audio)
"I want it that way" Starring Camilla and Mia - from Dream Team (video)
Camilla's diary from Olympics in Sydney 2000 (Ebookers)
In love and war [Scanned version] [Quick text version] (Sports Illustrated 2.10.00)
One Dane's Fast Game (smh.com 13.9.99)
Thanks to Bonita Gracey for help with the English version
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