Björg Hafsteinsdóttir (born 22 October 1969) is an Icelandic former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and a former member of the Icelandic national basketball team. She played 12 seasons in the Úrvalsdeild kvenna, winning the Icelandic championship seven times and the Icelandic Basketball Cup eight times. In 2001 she was named one of the twelve players of the

Icelandic basketball team of the 20th century The Team of the 20th Century in Icelandic basketball was chosen in 2001. The selection of the men's team was made by a 50-person panel while a 25-person panel selected the women's team. Men's team of the century Player of the century Pétur Guðmu ...

by the

Icelandic Basketball Federation The Icelandic Basketball Association (''Icelandic:Körfuknattleikssamband Íslands - KKÍ'') is the national governing body of basketball in Iceland and is a member of the continental association FIBA Europe and the global International Basketbal ...

. She was a six time Úrvalsdeild Domestic All-First Team selection and was named the league's Player of the Year in 1990. She spent the vast majority of her career with Keflavík, outside of a few months in the fall of 1992 when she played for KR. One of the first great Icelandic three-point shooters, she set several national three-point shooting records during her career.

Early life

Björg was born in

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 ...

where she started playing basketball with the junior boys team at the age of around 10–11. In her youth, she also played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor 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 thr ...

Basketball

Club career

She played her first senior team game on 10 October 1985 where she scored 7 point in a victory against KR. On 6 January 1994, she scored a career high 41 points in a 185–30 victory against ÍR. She retired from basketball following Keflavík's loss against eventual champions

Grindavík Grindavík () is a fishing town in the Southern Peninsula district of Iceland, not far from Þorbjörn, a tuya (a type of flat-topped, steep-sided volcano). It is one of the few towns with a harbour on this coast. Most of the inhabitants work ...

in the 1997 playoffs. Following her retirement from playing, she served as an assistant coach to

Anna María Sveinsdóttir Anna María Sveinsdóttir (born 22 November 1969) is an Icelandic former basketball player and coach. She won twelve Icelandic championships and eleven Icelandic basketball cups, and is regarded as one of the best women's players in Icelandic ...

for Keflavík during the 1997–1998 season, helping the team to the national championship and the Icelandic Cup.

National team career

Between 1986 and 1997, Björg played 33 games for the Icelandic national basketball team.

Football

Björg played for Keflavík's football team as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. In 1991, when the team was playing in the second-tier 2. deild kvenna, she helped the team to the Icelandic Football Cup finals after beating top-tier teams Breiðablik, where she saved two penalties in a penalty shootout, and

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 ...

in the previous rounds. In the finals, Keflavík lost 1–6 against ÍA.

Personal life

Björg is the mother of basketball player

Thelma Dís Ágústsdóttir Thelma Dís Ágústsdóttir (born 30 September 1998) is an Icelandic basketball player for Keflavík of the Úrvalsdeild kvenna (basketball), Úrvalsdeild kvenna. She played college basketball for Ball State Cardinals women's basketball, Ball St ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hafsteinsdottir, Bjorg 1969 births Living people Women's association football goalkeepers Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Guards (basketball) Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir Bjorg Hafsteinsdottir