Guðmundur Guðmundsson (handballer)

Guðmundur Þórður Guðmundsson (born 23 December 1960) is an Icelandic retired handball player and current coach of the Icelandic national team.[1] In 2016, he guided Denmark men's team to gold in the 2016 Olympics. In 2008, he won silver with the Icelandic men's national team at the 2008 Olympic games in China.

Guðmundur Guðmundsson
Personal information
Full name Guðmundur Þórður Guðmundsson
Born (1960-12-23) 23 December 1960
Reykjavík, Iceland
Nationality Icelandic
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position Left wing
Club information
Current club Iceland (Manager)
MT Melsungen (Manager)
Senior clubs
Years Team
1967–1992
Vikingur Reykjavik
1992–1995
Afturelding Mosfellsbær
National team
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Iceland 236 (358)
Teams managed
1989–1992
Vikingur Reykjavik
1992–1995
Afturelding Mosfellsbær
1995–1999
Fram Reykjavik
1999–2001
TSV Bayer Dormagen
2001–2004
Iceland
2005–2007
Fram Reykjavik
2008–2012
Iceland
2009–2010
GOG Svendborg
2010–2014
Rhein-Neckar Löwen
2014–2017
Denmark
2017–2018
Bahrain
2018–
Iceland
2020–
Melsungen

Career

He was the head coach of the Iceland men's national handball team 2001–2004 and again 2008–2012. Under his command the Iceland national team received a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and bronze medal at the 2010 European Championship in Austria.

Guðmundur is ranked with Dagur Sigurðsson his fellow countryman, who is the current national team coach of Japan's Men's team and another, Alfreð Gíslason, coach of THW Kiel amongst the best coaches of our era. He has cited former coach Bogdan Kowalczyk as a major influence.[2]

In October 2013, it was announced that Guðmundur would take over as the head coach the Danish men's national handball team on 1 July 2014, replacing Ulrik Wilbek .[3] On 21 August 2016 Guðmundur led his team to the gold medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[4] During the Olympics, Wilbek made two attempts to gain the consent of the Danish players to fire Guðmundur, once during the tournament and then the day after Denmark won the gold.[5][6] He announced in November 2016 that he would not renew his contract, which was set to expire on 1 July 2017.[7] After his departure from the Denmark team, Guðmundur criticized his predecessor Wilbek's, who was then the head of the Danish Handball Federation, repeated attempts to undercut his management of the team during the Olympics.[8]

It was reported in April 2017 that he would take over the Bahrain men's national handball team.[9]

In 2018 he returned to coach the Icelandic national team for the third time. He signed a contract for three years.[10] On 11 January 2020, he faced Denmark for the first time since his departure and guided Iceland to a 30–31 victory.[11]

In February 2020 Gudmundsson took over as a coach at MT Melsungen in the German Bundesliga. He signed a contract to the end of the season but remained coach of the Icelandic national team.[12]

Honours

Player

Víkingur R.[13]

Manager

Fram
Rhein-Neckar Löwen
Iceland
Denmark
Bahrain

References

  1. "Guðmundur Guðmundsson Biography and Olympic Results". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  2. "gudmundur-erkender-hidsigt-temperament-jeg-er-nok-verdens-daarligste-taber".
  3. "Gudmundsson Becomes New Danish Head Coach". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  4. https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/37150715
  5. Pétur Hreinsson (27 August 2016). "Ruddalegur Wilbek í valdabaráttu við Guðmund". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  6. "Brjálæði að brottrekstur hafi komið til tals". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 26 August 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  7. "gudmundur-stopper-som-dansk-landstraener".
  8. "Guðmundur: Ekki talað við Wilbek síðan á ÓL – Vísir". visir.is. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  9. "Þetta er ákveðið ævintýri". Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  10. http://www.ruv.is/frett/gudmundur-gerir-3-ara-samning-vid-hsi Guðmundur gerir 3 ára samning við HSÍ
  11. Henry Birgir Gunnarsson (12 January 2020). "Guðmundur: Þessi sigur er á topp fimm hjá mér" (in Icelandic). Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  12. https://www.ruv.is/frett/gudmundur-tekur-vid-melsungen Guðmundur tekur við Melsungen
  13. "HSÍ". hsi.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 22 March 2019.
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