O’Sullivan has had a successful career in European handball, most notably leading SC Magdeburg to the Machineseeker EHF Champions League title last season. He credits his family in particular for helping him to his achievements.
"My father (David) and my uncle (Michael) played for Great Britain and my mom played some national games for Norway as well, and my sister was really good. So, I spent a lot of hours in the arena watching handball, and I decided that I want to play handball myself. They have been a big inspiration and a lot of help for me in reaching the levels of my career so far and they have supported me every step of the way," says O'Sullivan.
When asked about whether the young Christian received some valuable advice from his family about playing handball which influenced his career, he says: "Absolutely. One of the most important things when you are young is to have fun. Play the sport you love, do as well as you can.
“There will be ups and downs, you are not going to win every game. You going to have good periods, you are going to have bad periods and as long as you have fun and continue to try to get better, that's all you can control and sometimes like myself, you are lucky enough to play it for a living and sometimes you just make good memories with your friends,” says O'Sullivan.
With Norway set to play at least three matches in the preliminary round of the Men's EHF EURO 2024 in group D – and more if they reach the next phase of the tournament – O'Sullivan, alongside Reinkind and Sagosen, will almost certainly write his name into his country’s history books. Whether he can also lead Norway to that gold medal they want, will be seen in the coming days.
Photos © Jozo Cabraja / kolektiff
