Anette Norberg is one of Sweden’s best curling players of all time.
Today, she is back in Norrland and lives a quieter life.
– I’ve worked a lot so I feel I’ve done my hours, says Norberg to Sportbibeln.
Anette Norberg, 57, is one of the world’s most meritorious curling players ever. Her biggest merit is her two Olympic gold medals from Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010. But the Härnösandsbo also has nine WC medals, three of which are gold, and twelve EC medals, seven of which are of the noblest denomination.
Norbeg’s life today
Since 2013, Anette Norberg is no longer a professional curling player. Until now, the 57-year-old has worked, spent time with his children and his special home, and left Stockholm. Now a new period awaits in her life.
– My life looks like I’ve tried to go into some kind of retirement. I sold the house and have moved back home to Härnösand and Norrland. It is significantly cheaper to live and live up here, and so you get a lot of money when you sell a house and renovate an existing one up here, which means that you don’t have to work yourself to death. Plus I’ve had very good jobs with good salaries. Since I have worked with pensions and in the pension industry, I can be sure that I have a pension that will last me a lifetime anyway.
– I have worked a lot, during my elite career I also worked double jobs, with sports and with my regular job. So I feel that I’ve done my hours there and think it’s nice not to have any set days, but rather can do what the spirit strikes me, says Norberg to Sportbibeln.
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Do you still have any assignments in curling or sports?
– No, I stepped down from the SOK’s (Swedish Olympic Committee) board last spring, and currently have no assignments in curling other than trying to work a little locally here with the curling club and help and support in what I can. But it’s something I’m thinking about – I’ve sat on the curling association’s board before but felt that I didn’t really have time to do it with everything else, but it’s definitely something that I can imagine going back to in the future.
Playing curling
Curling at the elite level is not something Norberg lacks, but she still practices the sport at a lower level.
– We are two old Olympic players playing with two beginners in a series, we have a match tomorrow. And this weekend there is a slightly smaller tournament here in Härnösand where I will play with my team. We have a 50+ team, and we will try to play the SM and qualify for the WC. The 50+ WC which will be played in Östersund a little later this spring. So there will still be some visits to the curling hall.
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Nor is there any interest in stepping into an elite-level leadership role at Norberg.
– For me, it was playing curling that was the fun. I still think it’s great fun to compete and play, but what’s not fun for me now is all the traveling, going here and there and being away all the time. As a leader, I don’t get the positives or what I thought was fun – to play – but on the other hand, you still get the travel and being away, so it’s never been an issue for me.
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Believe in the daughter
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Norberg’s daughter, Therese Westman, has followed in his mother’s footsteps and is today an active curler who competes at an elite level. But a leadership role for the daughter is also out of the question.
– It is difficult as a parent to be one, I think. But at the same time I want to have the opportunity to go and watch her sometimes, albeit as a spectator. Then I don’t have an official role as a leader that means I have to go to every competition, then I can only go to the competitions that are interesting.
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How far do you think Therese can go?
– I think she can go as far as she wants, but then it’s a team sport, you have to have the team with you. And that’s the way it is in curling that you often have to be a little persistent. It often takes quite a long time before you reach the top. I was 40 when I won the first Olympics and 44 when I won the second, and like today’s young people today, they are a little more impatient and want everything to come now, for it to happen now. So I hope she has the endurance, because she absolutely has the talent, says Anette Norberg.
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