Hamar Idrettslag is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 sports club from Hamar

Hamar

is a town and municipality in Hedmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hedmarken. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hamar. The municipality of Hamar was separated from Vang as a town and municipality of its own in 1849...

. It has sections for bandy

Bandy

Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a football field. Each team has 11 players,...

, curling

Curling

Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...

, association football, athletics

Athletics (track and field)

Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...

, sport shooting, rowing

Rowing (sport)

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

, speed skating

Speed skating

Speed skating, or speedskating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in traveling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating...

, diving

Diving

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

, swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

, tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 and gymnastics

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...

.

It was founded in 1921 by the parties Hamar SK (founded 1901, speed skating), Hamar TF (founded 1896, gymnastics), Hamar SK (founded 1891, Nordic skiing

Nordic skiing

Nordic skiing is a winter sport that encompasses all types of skiing where the heel of the boot cannot be fixed to the ski, as opposed to Alpine skiing....

), Hamar Game Club (founded 1903, tennis and cycling

Cycling

Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...

), Hamar FL (founded 1912, association football) and IF Tor (founded 1919, athletics and amateur boxing

Amateur boxing

Amateur boxing is practised at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games, and in many other venues sponsored by amateur boxing associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration and fighters wear head protection, so this type of competition prizes point-scoring rather...

). New groups were added: bandy in 1933, orienteering

Orienteering

Orienteering is a family of sports that requires navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain, and normally moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specially prepared orienteering map, which they...

 in 1934, swimming in 1935, handball

Team handball

Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...

 in 1945, sport shooting in 1948, basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 in 1975, diving in 1985, later curling and rowing. Several groups went defunct, some by forming their own club: the boxing group in Hamar IL ceased in 1951, orienteering in 1963, cycling in 1971, Nordic skiing in 1972, later handball and basketball.

Its ground Hamar stadion

Hamar stadion

Hamar stadion is a former athletics, speed skating and bandy stadium in Hamar, Norway. The home ground of Hamar IL, it was owned by Hamar Municipality...

 is used for athletics and ice sports, and was a prominent speed skating arena until it was replaced by the indoor Vikingskipet Olympic Arena

Vikingskipet Olympic Arena

Vikingskipet , officially known as Hamar Olympic Hall , is an indoor multi-use sport and event venue in Hamar, Norway. It was built as the speed skating rink for the 1994 Winter Olympics, and has since also hosted events and tournaments in speedway, rally, association football, bandy, ice sledge...

. With Hamar being a central city in Norwegian speed skating, Hamar IL has been represented by many notable speed skaters, including Peter Sinnerud, Michael Staksrud

Michael Staksrud

Michael Staksrud was a Norwegian World Champion in speed skating.-Biography:Born in Gran, in the district of Hadeland, Staksrud started his speed skating career at Hamar Idrettslag . From 1937 onward, he represented Oslo Skøiteklub...

, Hans Engnestangen

Hans Engnestangen

Hans Engnestangen was a Norwegian speed skater and world champion. He held the world records on both the 500 and 1500 meter distance for more than ten years....

, Ivar Martinsen

Ivar Martinsen

Karl Ivar Martinsen is a Norwegian former speed skater who competed in the 1948 Winter Olympics and in the 1952 Winter Olympics.He was born in Løten.In 1948 he finished 16th in the 1500 metres competition....

, Dag Fornæss

Dag Fornæss

Dag Fornæss is a former speed skater from Norway who won the Norwegian, European, and World Allround Championships in 1969. He was born in Hamar.-Biography:...

, Amund Sjøbrend

Amund Sjøbrend

Amund Martin Sjøbrend is a former ice speed skater from Norway.Together with Sten Stensen, Kay Stenshjemmet, and Jan Egil Storholt, Amund Sjøbrend was one of the legendary four S-es , four Norwegian top skaters in the 1970s and early 1980s...

 and more recently Even Wetten

Even Wetten

Even Gabrielsen Wetten is a Norwegian speed skater. He became World Champion on 1,000 metres in 2005 in Inzell.-References:**...

 and Eskil Ervik

Eskil Ervik

Eskil Ervik is a Norwegian speedskater. Ervik's best distance is traditionally the 5000-m, where he for several years was among the very best of the world, but his top priority for the most part of his career was to perform optimally in the allround championships...

.

The men's football team of Hamar IL currently plays in the Norwegian Third Division. It is the second most prominent football team in Hamar, after Hamarkameratene.

The athletics section is largely down as of 2007, but in the past it has been represented by prominent javelin throwers. Odd Mæhlum

Odd Mæhlum

Odd Mæhlum is a former Norwegian javelin thrower. He represented Hamar IL.At the 1948 Summer Olympics he finished fifth in the javelin final with a throw of 65.32 metres. He finished fourth at the 1946 European Championships in Athletics. He became Norwegian champion from 1946-1949...

 reached the 1948 Olympic final whereas Egil Danielsen

Egil Danielsen

Egil Danielsen is a former Norwegian javelin thrower. He represented Hamar IL.Daielsen won the gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics with a throw of 85.71 metres. This was a new world record as well as a career best for Danielsen...

 became 1956 Olympic champion

1956 Summer Olympics

The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...

. Also Arild Lenth

Arild Lenth

Arild Lenth was a Norwegian long jumper and triple jumper.His personal best long jump was 7.18 metres, achieved in July 1928 on Bislett stadion. In August 1928 at the same stadium he jumped 14.11 metres in the triple jump, another career best. At the 1928 Summer Olympics he competed in the long...

competed in the 1928 Olympics.