News | Iceland Monitor | Mon 22 Aug 2016 | 10.08 GMT

Icelanders driving force behind Olympic handball success

Guðmundur Guðmundsson (left) and the Danish players celebrating their victory. Photo: AFP

Three of the six medals won in the handball competition of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games were won by teams under Icelandic managers.

Although the Icelandic Olympic team won no medals during these games, Iceland was the driving force behind the podium for handball.

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Yesterday saw Denmark clinch the gold medal in the men’s handball, with an exciting 28-26 victory over France. Denmark is coached by Iceland’s Guðmundur Þórður Guðmundsson – whom Danes have now nicknamed ‘Gullmundur’ (gull = gold, in Icelandic).

MORE: One of Iceland’s best Olympic results ever

Earlier on in the day, Icelandic manager Dagur Sigurðsson took the German men’s national team to bronze, with a 31-25 win over Poland.

Topping off the Icelandic coaches’ Olympic handball medal rush was Þórir Hergeirsson, who this weekend led the Norwegian women’s team to bronze medal glory.