Birgir Örn Birgisson (born 6 October 1969) is an Icelandic

basketball coach Basketball coaching is the act of directing and strategizing the behavior of a basketball team or individual basketball player. Basketball coaching typically encompasses the improvement of individual and team offensive and defensive skills, as wel ...

and a former professional player who played 26 games for the Icelandic national basketball team. He won two

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

with

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavík merged with nearby Njar ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

. Before turning to basketball, Birgir had a successful career in

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and was a member of the Icelandic national swimming team.

Basketball

Following his swimming career, Birgir took up basketball with

Bolungarvík Bolungarvík (, regionally also ) is a small town and the only built-up area in the municipality of Bolungarvíkurkaupstaður in the northwest of Iceland, located on the Westfjords peninsula, approximately from the town of Ísafjörður and from ...

in 1990 at the age of 21. After one season, he transferred to

Þór Akureyri Íþróttafélagið Þór (, ), commonly known as Þór Akureyri (), or simply Þór or Thór, is a multi-sport club in Akureyri, in the north of Iceland. It features departments in basketball, football, handball and taekwondo. Its main rival is ...

where he played for five seasons and was selected to the Icelandic national basketball team for the first time. In 1996, he joined

where he won the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

in 1997 and 1999 as well as the Icelandic Cup in 1997. In 1999, he moved to Germany where he played and coached, aside from the 2001–2002 season, until 2014 when he moved to his hometown of

Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...

to coach

KFÍ The Vestri men's basketball team, commonly known as Vestri, is a basketball team based in Ísafjörður, Iceland. The club was founded in 1965 as Körfuknattleiksfélag Ísafjarðar and held that name until it merged with newly founded Íþrótta ...

(later known as Vestri). In 2022, at the age of 53, he made a comeback with Vestri in the third-tier 2. deild karla.

Awards and achievements

* Icelandic champion: 2 **1997, 1999 * Icelandic Division I: 1 **1994 * Icelandic Basketball Cup: 1 **1997 * Icelandic Supercup: 1 **1997 * Icelandic Company Cup: 3 **1996, 1997, 1998

National team

Birgir played 26 games for the Icelandic national basketball team between 1995 and 2000.

Swimming

Awards and achievements

*Icelandic Swim Cup: 1 **1986

References

1969 births Living people Centers (basketball) Forwards (basketball) Birgir Orn Birgisson Birgir Orn Birgisson Birgir Orn Birgisson Icelandic male swimmers Keflavík men's basketball players Birgir Orn Birgisson UMFB Basketball players Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) coaches Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players Vestri men's basketball coaches Vestri men's basketball players Þór Akureyri men's basketball players 20th-century Icelandic sportsmen {{Iceland-basketball-bio-stub