Anja Andersen

Last updated

Anja Andersen
Anja Andersen 20110907.jpg
Personal information
Born (1969-02-15) 15 February 1969 (age 55)
Odense, Denmark
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position Back
Senior clubs
YearsTeam
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark Stjernen IF
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark Vejle Allested
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark ASH 72
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark IF Jarl Arden
1986–1987
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark Aalborg KFUM
1987–1988
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark Ikast FS
1989
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark Viborg HK
1989–1993
Flag of Norway.svg Norway Bækkelaget
1993–1996
Flag of Germany.svg Germany TuS Walle Bremen
1996–1999
Flag of Norway.svg Norway Bækkelaget
National team 1
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1989–1998
Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark 133 (725)
Teams managed
2000–2008
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark Slagelse DT
2006
Flag of Yugoslavia (1992-2003); Flag of Serbia and Montenegro (2003-2006).svg Serbia and Montenegro Serbia & Montenegro
2008–2010
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark FCK Handball
2011
Flag of Romania.svg Romania Oltchim Vâlcea
2011–2012
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark Viborg HK (Men's team)
2013–2015
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark DHG Odense
Medal record
Women's handball
Representing Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1996 Atlanta Team
World Championship
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1997 Germany Team
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1993 Norway Team
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1995 Austria Hungary Team
European Championship
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1994 Germany Team
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1996 Denmark Team
1 National team caps and goals correct
as of 3 February 2011

Anja Jul Andersen (born 15 February 1969 in Odense, Denmark) is a former Danish team handball player and current coach. She is an Olympic champion, World champion and two times European champion. In 1997, she was named IHF World Player of the Year. She is widely regarded as one of the best female handball players of all time. She was admitted to the Danish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. [1]

Contents

Career

Anja Andersen is known for her skills as an offensive player, as well as her strong temper and courage to make dramatic scenes and daring tricks during a match. She was an important part of the renaissance in Danish handball during the 1990s. Her temper and impressive skills afforded everybody an opinion and after the first gold medal at the European championship in 1994 the national team affectionately earned the nickname "the iron ladies" and status of national sports heroes.

Although the national handball team of the 1990s had many profiles it is undisputed that Andersen was the most prolific and controversial. Although nobody questioned her skills, her temper, causing numerous expulsions from high-profile matches, was an issue of some debate. During the 1996 Summer Olympics, the Danish coach, Ulrik Wilbek, briefly banned her from the team due to disputes of her playing style and behavior on the floor. [2]

She has played 133 matches for the Danish national handball team for women and has scored 725 goals.

It was also Andersen who introduced handball to true showmanship. Greatly influenced by basketball and notably the Harlem Globetrotters, she invented a playing style aimed at the audience rather than the opposing team. After her retirement as an active player, she organized a "dream team" of the best female handball players in 2000 and 2001 which played a selected Danish team. The "dream team" matches were a success, but they stopped when Andersen could no longer play actively herself. [3]

Because of a heart defect, Andersen stopped her player career in 1999. [4]

Coaching

Andersen immediately started coaching the Danish Women's Handball League club Slagelse. [5] She first helped the team reach the top league and later win the Champions League three times, in 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2006/07. In 2006, she also coached the national team of Serbia.

In 2008, she left Slagelse for FCK Håndbold. [6] In 2010, she left FCK Håndbold because the club dissolved and decided to take a break before coaching a new team. [7]

In February 2011, Andersen became the new coach of Oltchim Râmnicu Vâlcea. The Romanian club hired her in the attempt of winning the Champions League. [8] [9]

In March 2011, after less than two months of coaching, she was fired because of poor results, losing two matches from a total of four on the bench of Oltchim in the main round of the Champions League. [10]

In 2015 after parting ways with the 1. division club DHG Håndbold, she stated that her managing career was over, and that she "could not imagine getting involved with Handball again". [11]

Achievements and recognition

Achievements

During her active career as a handball player she won numerous tournaments:

Her career as a coach has also yielded results:

Recognition

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FCK Håndbold</span> Danish handball club

F.C. Copenhagen Handball was a Danish handball team, playing in Copenhagen. They had both a male and a female team, both playing in the best Danish leagues, the Danish Handball League (men) and Danish Women's Handball League (women). FCK Handball was owned by Parken Sport & Entertainment - the same company behind the football team, F.C. Copenhagen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viborg HK</span> Danish handball club

Viborg HK is a Danish professional handball club from Viborg. The club has many teams for both women and men, but especially the professional women's team is one of the most successful in Danish and European handball since the beginning of the 1990s. This team currently competes in the women's Danish Women's Handball League.

The Denmark women's national handball team is the national team of Denmark. It is governed by the Danish Handball Federation (DHF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radu Voina</span> Romanian handball player (born 1950)

Radu Voina is a Romanian former handball player and current head coach.

Péter Kovács is a former Hungarian international handball player and handball coach.

Slagelse Dream Team was a handball team from the town of Slagelse, Denmark. It is sometimes referred to as "Slagelse DT", and is the professional first team for the handball club Slagelse Forenede Håndboldklubber. The club was catapulted into the limelight in 2000 when Anja Andersen took the head coach job and in a very short time led the women's team to the first Danish victory in the Women's EHF Champions League final in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecilie Leganger</span> Norwegian handball player (born 1975)

Cecilie Leganger is a Norwegian retired handballer. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, Leganger won the 1998 European Championship and the 1999 World Championship with the Norwegian national team, and received the IHF World Player of the Year award in 2001.

Irina Igorevna Poltoratskaya is a Russian team handball player, playing on the Russian women's national handball team. She won gold medal with the Russian winning team in the 2005 World Women's Handball Championship in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and again in the 2007 World Women's Handball Championship in France.

Camilla Røseler Andersen is a former Danish team handball player, two times Olympic champion and a World champion. She received gold medals with the Danish national team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She is widely regarded as one of the best players Danish handball has ever seen. With 846 goals she has scored the most goals in the Danish Women's national team, ever and she has played the 4th most matches on the national team.

Ikast Håndbold is a Danish professional women's handball club based in Ikast. They have competed in Damehåndboldligaen, Denmark's primary handball league, since 1991.

The Kvindeligaen is the top professional league for Danish women's handball clubs. It is administered by the Danish Handball Federation, and the winners are recognized as Danish champions. The league was previously called Bambusa Kvindeligaen for sponsorship reasons. It has previously been known as HTH GO Ligaen, Primo Tours Ligaen, Boxer Dameligaen, TOMS Ligaen and GuldBageren Ligaen. The current title holder is Team Esbjerg (2023). The European Handball Federation (EHF) ranks the Danish league 4th in the coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the past seasons.

Bojana Popović née Petrović, is a handball coach and a retired Montenegrin handballer. She is considered by many to be the best female handball player of the past decade, despite not being given any official recognition. After winning the Women's EHF Champions League with Budućnost and a silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games with the Montenegro national team, Bojana Popović decided to retire from handball. However, in June 2016 Popović announced she would come out of retirement and make herself available for selection by the Montenegro national handball team to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Carmen Andreea Amariei was a Romanian handballer. She participated at the 2008 Summer Olympics in China, where the Romanian national team placed seventh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Line Jørgensen</span> Danish handball player (born 1989)

Line Anna Ryborg Jørgensen Myers is a former Danish handball player, who last played for Team Esbjerg and formerly the Danish national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandra Toft</span> Danish handball player (born 1989)

Sandra Toft is a Danish professional handball goalkeeper for Győri ETO KC and the Danish national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stine Jørgensen</span> Danish handball player (born 1990)

Stine Østergaard Jørgensen is a Danish handball player for København Håndbold. She was the team captain of the national team and participated at the 2011 World Women's Handball Championship in Brazil. In May 2020, she announced her retirement from the Danish national team.

Anne Mette Hansen is a Danish handball player for Metz Handball and the Danish national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Line Haugsted</span> Danish handball player (born 1994)

Line Haugsted is a Danish professional handball player for Team Esbjerg and the Danish national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Iversen</span> Danish handball player (born 1990)

Sarah Aaberg Iversen is a Danish handball player for Herning-Ikast Håndbold and the Danish national team.

Mette Sjøberg is a former Danish handball player. She played her entire career in Denmark for the clubs KIF Vejen, GOG, Horsens HK, FCK Håndbold and FC Midtjylland Håndbold. Hun debuted for the Denmark women's national handball team on the 14th of June 2003. She won silver medals with Danish National team in the 2004 European Women's Handball Championship.

References

  1. ↑ "Anja Andersen". Sportens Hall of Fame (in Danish). Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  2. ↑ Anders Bo Rasmussen, TV2. Spillerne blev kaldt sammen efter sejr i semifinalen: – Der er sket noget forfærdeligt 13. dec. 2017
  3. ↑ Kokborg, Johnny Wojciech (12 December 2021). "Historien om Slagelse Dream Team: 'Hun tog den hårde vej'". www.bt.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  4. ↑ "Anja Andersen stopper". Berlingske.dk (in Danish). 23 August 1999. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  5. ↑ Kokborg, Johnny Wojciech (12 December 2021). "Historien om Slagelse Dream Team: 'Hun tog den hårde vej'". www.bt.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  6. ↑ "Anja Andersen tager ni spillere med". DR (in Danish). 6 February 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  7. ↑ "FCK-chok: Anja Andersen stopper – TV 2". sport.tv2.dk (in Danish). 25 February 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  8. ↑ "OFICIAL Anja Andersen a semnat cu Oltchim (Romanian)". 3 February 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  9. ↑ "EXCLUSIV / Anja Andersen este noua antrenoare a Oltchimului! (Romanian)" . Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  10. ↑ "Anja: excentrică, ineficientă, demisă (Romanian)" . Retrieved 8 March 2011.
  11. ↑ "Anja Andersen siger farvel til håndbold". DR (in Danish). 14 January 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  12. ↑ "Previous World Handball Players". International Handball Federation. Archived from the original on 1 January 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
  13. ↑ "Danskkvindesamfund.dk – Tidligere prismodtagere". Archived from the original on 17 April 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
Awards
Preceded by IHF World Player of the Year – Women (1997)Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.