Guðmundur Þórður Guðmundsson (born 23 December 1960) is an Icelandic retired

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 and current coach of the Icelandic national team. In 2016, he guided Denmark men's team to gold in the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

. In 2008, he won silver with the Icelandic men's national team at the 2008 Olympic games in China.

Career

He was the head coach of the

Iceland men's national handball team ) , Association = Icelandic Handball Association(''Handknattleikssamband Íslands'') , Coach = Guðmundur Guðmundsson , Assistant coach = Ágúst Þór JóhannssonGunnar Magnússon , Captain = Aron ...

2001–2004 and again 2008–2012. Under his command the Iceland national team received a silver medal at the

2008 Summer 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 Na ...

in Beijing and bronze medal at the 2010 European Championship in Austria. Guðmundur is ranked with

Dagur Sigurðsson Dagur Sigurðsson (born 3 April 1973) is an Icelandic retired handball player and current coach of the Japanese national team. He competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγ� ...

his fellow countryman, who is the current national team coach of Japan's Men's team and another,

Alfreð Gíslason Alfreð Gíslason (born 7 September 1959) is an Icelandic handball coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the German men's national team and former coach of the Icelandic men's national team. His coaching career started in 19 ...

, coach of

THW Kiel THW Kiel is a handball club from Kiel, Germany. Currently, they compete in the Handball-Bundesliga and are the record champion with 22 titles. 2007 and 2012 were the most successful years in the club's history, as THW completed the treble, win ...

amongst the best coaches of our era. He has cited former coach Bogdan Kowalczyk as a major influence. 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 Ulrik Wilbek (born 13 April 1958, in Tunis, Tunisia) is a former Danish team handball coach and current politician, and mayor of Viborg. He is the most successful Danish team handball coach ever, having won 2 European championships with the men a ...

. On 21 August 2016 Guðmundur led his team to the gold medal at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 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. He announced in November 2016 that he would not renew his contract, which was set to expire on 1 July 2017. After his departure from the Denmark team, Guðmundur criticized his predecessor Wilbek's, who was then the head of the

Danish Handball Federation '' , abbrev= DHF , logo= Danish Handball Federation logo.svg , logosize= 150px , countryflag= Denmark , iocnation= Kingdom of Denmark (DEN) , url= www.dhf.dk , sport= Handball , othersport1= Beach Handball , othersport2= Wheelchair Handball , histo ...

, repeated attempts to undercut his management of the team during the Olympics. It was reported in April 2017 that he would take over the

Bahrain men's national handball team The Bahrain national handball team is the national handball team of Bahrain and is controlled by the Bahrain Handball Federation. In May of 2021 Aron Kristjánsson returned to his position as head coach, taking over from Halldór Jóhann Sigfúss ...

. In 2018 he returned to coach the Icelandic national team for the third time. He signed a contract for three years. On 11 January 2020, he faced Denmark for the first time since his departure and guided Iceland to a 30–31 victory. In February 2020 Guðmundur 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. In september 2021, he was sacked after 3 league matches only

Honours

Player

;Víkingur R. * Icelandic champion (6): 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1985–86, 1986–87 * Icelandic cup: 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86

Manager

;Fram * Icelandic champion: 2006 ;Rhein-Neckar Löwen *

EHF Cup The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Previ ...

2012–2013 ;Iceland *

Olympic games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

: **: 2008 * EHF Euro: **: 2010 ;Denmark *

: **: 2016 ;Bahrain * Asian championship: **: 2018

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gudmundsson, Gudmundur 1960 births Living people Icelandic male handball players Icelandic handball coaches Olympic handball players of Iceland Handball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in Bahrain Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in Germany Sportspeople from Reykjavík Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Handball coaches of international teams