Bertrand Fabien Gille (born 24 March 1978 in Valence,

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

player from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Very strong physically (1.87m, 98 kg), and was honored with the title of

World Player of the Year The FIFA Ballon d'Or ("Golden Ball") was an annual association football award presented to the world's best men's player from 2010 to 2015. Awarded jointly by FIFA and ''France Football'', the prize was a merger of the FIFA World Player of the Y ...

in 2002. His career as a handball player started very early: in 1984, he played for

HBC Loriol HBC or HbC may refer to: Companies and organizations * Halton Borough Council, England * Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, the state-owned radio and television broadcaster for Greece * Hokkaido Broadcasting, Japan * Houston Boychoir, Texas, US * ...

and followed

sport étude In France, sport-étude (English: Sports studies) sections are specialised state institutions combining traditional school studies with high level sport education. To account for the weakness of sports education in the traditional French school cur ...

as a scholastic path. From 1996 to 2002, he played for Chambéry SH (under the guidance of Philippe Gardent, another famous French handball player) before joining the German club

HSV Hamburg Handball Sport Verein Hamburg is a handball club from Germany, located in Hamburg. Currently, Handball Hamburg competes in the Handball-Bundesliga. The full name in German is ''Handball Sport Verein Hamburg e.V.'' but the club has traditionally b ...

. He has been playing together with his brother,

Guillaume Gille Guillaume Alain Gille (born 12 July 1976) is a retired French handballer and current coach of the French national team. He was the winner of the gold medal at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and is the older brother of Bertrand Gille. Career ...

, since they were little. They have played together in

, Chambéry SH and now

. Member of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

since 1997, "Gilou" was again pivot on the team which, among others, won the handball competition at the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

, where he was also named best pivot of the tournament. He decided to suspend his international career after a physical injury contracted during the

Handball-Bundesliga The Handball-Bundesliga (HBL) is the top German professional handball league. From 2007 onwards, the league was sponsored by Toyota and has officially been called the ''Toyota Handball-Bundesliga''. This lasted until 2012 when the Deutsche K ...

of 2009. His successor on the team was

Cédric Sorhaindo Cédric Sorhaindo (born 7 June 1984) is a French handball player for Dinamo București and the French national team. He won with the France national team gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics, the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship in C ...

. Now, 2010, Bertrand Gille is back on the team. He was a part of the team, who won European Championships 2010. He was also part of the French team that won the gold medal at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Personal life

He has two brothers;

, born in 1976 and

Benjamin Gille Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...

, born in 1982. Bertrand Gille is married with three children. His nickname is "Bobo".

Honours

* French Handball champions 2001 * World Player of the Year 2002 * Vicechampion in Germany 2004 and 2008 * Super cup winner in Germany 2004, 2006 and 2009 * German Cup winner 2006, 2010 * French Cup winner 2002 * Winner of

Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

2007 * Bronze medal from European Championships 2008 * Gold medal from Summer Olympics 2008 and 2012 * European Champion 2010

Seasons for HSV Hamburg

References

*
nbcolympics.comPortrait on the French handball federation site (in French)

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gille, Bertrand 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Valence, Drôme French male handball players Handball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic handball players for France Olympic gold medalists for France Olympic medalists in handball Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite European champions for France French expatriate sportspeople in Germany