I got a text on the way to the golf course 2 weeks ago
cool. Bjarte Merhall retired from handball after this summer’s Olympics.
2.5 weeks ago, the 40-year-old received a surprising text message.
Now he can win his first gold medal in the Champions League.
– That’s a bonus, the Norwegian tells Sportbladet.
On Tuesday, he received a text message from Kiel coach Philip Gicha: “Want to be part of one last adventure?”
On Wednesday, he did his first workout.
On Friday, it was presented as Kiel’s kidnapping recruit.
On Sunday, he played in the German Bundesliga.
Now, two weeks later, Bayerte Merhall will play the Final 4 in the Champions League before retiring.
The Norwegian, who had just turned 40 when the German club heard about it, had not played handball in ten months, since he finished his career with the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
– I’ve kept fit a bit because I like to train. But there was no handball, says the player when Sportbladet met him at the player’s hotel in Cologne before Final 4 this weekend in front of 19,250 spectators at the Lanxess Arena.
I don’t think he will get the chance
He replaced Kiel’s chief of defense and linebacker Hendrik Pickler, who tore his hamstring on May 19.
There is something special about being here in Cologne. This is the highlight of handball, Merhall says.
It has been here once before, with Rhein-Neckar Löwen 2011 (3rd place). After a season in Hungarian Veszprem 2005-06, three in Nordhorn and six years in Rhein-Neckar Löwen (okay) Merhall finished his six-year career (2015-21) in Skjern, Denmark, where he still lives and works with youth handball.
Tell us more about how it went when you suddenly got ready for Kiel.
– When Pickler cut himself, I got a lot of text messages from handball people asking what I would do if Keil called right now. I started with some ideas because I knew there wasn’t much choice for them. But I heard nothing and thought there would be nothing.
– Then Philip wrote a text message and I immediately understood what it was about. We had a chat and he asked if I’d like to be part of one last adventure. It didn’t take many hours before I was in the car on my way to first practice with Kiel.
Periods instead of rounds of golf
Merhall was on his way to the golf course when he received the text message.
Was there a round of golf?
– (Laughter) No, there was a few hits on the driving range and then I came home and ran for periods.
Merhall retired not last year because he turned 39 but because the body, especially the shoulder, finally stopped.
If it wasn’t for my shoulders and a body that suffered so much, I think I could have played at Kiel today anyway. Not as one number in the center but as one of three.
He played two league games with Kiel in June before the last game.
– Then the body was not feeling well.
But she will go on for the last two matches in the biggest handball scenes.
– This is a bonus. Nobody expects anything from me but in my head I still expect a lot from myself. Playing handball again is fun, says Merhall.
Kiel will meet Barcelona in a giant classic on Saturday. In the second semi-final, he will face Hungary’s Veszprem Kielce of Poland.