Anja Andersen

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Anja Andersen
Personal information
Date of birth	February 15, 1969 (1969-02-15) (age 40)
Place of birth	Odense, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Back
Club information
Current club	FCK Handball
Senior clubs
0000–1993 1993–1996 1996–1999	Stjernen IF Vejle Allested ASH 72 IF Jarl Arden Aalborg KFUM Ikast FS Viborg HK Bækkelagets SK TuS Walle Bremen Bækkelagets SK
National team1
1989–1999  Denmark 133 (726)
Teams managed
2000–2008 2008–	Slagelse DT FCK Handball
Medal record Olympic Games Gold 1996 Atlanta Team World Championship Silver 1993 Norway Team Bronze 1995 Austria Hungary Team Gold 1997 Germany Team European Championship Gold 1994 Germany Team Gold 1996 Denmark Team
1 National team caps and goals correct as of 13 January 2009.

Anja Andersen (born February 15, 1969 in Odense, Denmark) is a female handball player known for both her skills as an offensive player, her strong temper and courage to make dramatic scenes and daring tricks during a match. She has played 133 matches for the Danish national handball team for women and has scored 726 goals.

Anja Andersen was an important part of the renaissance in Danish handball during the 1990s. Her strong 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 Anja 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. At the 1996 Olympics the coach, Ulrik Wilbek, briefly banned her from the team due to disputes of playing style and behavior on the floor.

It was also Anja 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 was a success but they stopped when Anja Andersen could no longer play actively herself.

Because of a heart defect, Andersen stopped her player career in 1999. She remained in the handball world though as she immediately started coaching the Danish 1st Division club Slagelse. She first helped the team reach the top league and later on win the Champions League three times, in 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2006/07. In 2008, she left Slagelse for FCK Håndbold. She also coached the national team of Serbia and Montenegro in 2006.

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

• 1987 Silver at the Junior World Championship
• 1992 and 1999 Norwegian champion with Bækkelaget
• 1993 silver at the World Championship
• 1994 and 1996 European Champion
• 1995 bronze at the World Championship
• 1996 Olympic Gold medalist
• 1997 World Champion
• 1994 selected world second best female handball player
• 1997 selected world best female handball player^[1]

Her career as a coach has also yielded results:

• 2003, 2005 and 2007 Danish Champions as coach for Slagelse
• 2004 and 2005 winner of Champions League
• 2007 winner of Champions League

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Danish) Fansite

Awards
Preceded by Lim O-Kyeong	IHF World Player of the Year – Women 1997	Succeeded by Trine Haltvik

v • d • e IHF World Player of the Year Svetlana Dašić-Kitić (1988) • Kim Hyun-Mee (1989) • Jasna Kolar-Merdan (1990) • Mia Hermansson-Högdahl (1994) • Erzsébet Kocsis (1995) • Lim O-Kyeong (1996) • Anja Andersen (1997) • Trine Haltvik (1998) • Ausra Fridrikas (1999) • Bojana Radulović (2000) • Cecilie Leganger (2001) • Zhai Chao (2002) • Bojana Radulović (2003) • Anita Kulcsár (2004) • Anita Görbicz (2005) • Nadine Krause (2006) • Gro Hammerseng (2007)

v • d • e Denmark squad – 1996 Summer Olympics (1st Title)  Rantala ·  Tanderup ·  C. Andersen ·  Bøttzau ·  Hoffmann ·  Hansen ·  Florman ·  Kolling (c) ·  Hamann ·  A. Andersen ·  Madsen ·  Sunesen ·  Astrup ·  Kjærgaard ·  Lauritsen ·  K. Andersen · Coach: Wilbek