Swedish handball player (born 1948)
Olle Olsson (1 June 1948 – 29 June 2024)[1] was a Swedish handball player and handball coach.[2] In 1972 he was part of the Swedish team which finished seventh in the Olympic tournament.[2] He played four matches and scored two goals.
Club career
Olsson started playing handball at the age of 12 in Lugi HF in Lund. It was also here he started his career in 1964 when he was only 16 years old. Lugi was at that time the Swedish 2nd division, the second highest level in Sweden. The same year Lugi was promoted to the highest tier, Allsvenskan, and thus Olle Olsson made his top flight debut the next year.[3]
In 1970 he was in military service, and therefore he played a single year at IF Saab, only to return to Lugi HF. He played a total of 136 matches, scoring 523 goals. In 1975 he stopped playing at Lugi to study at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences in Stockholm. Therefore he started playing for the Stockholm club AIK, where he was a playing manager. He played for AIK for 5 years, while he was studying. In 1980 he retired as player to coach full time.[4]
National team
Olsson played for the Swedish national team for 10 years between 1967 and 1977, where he represented Sweden at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Münich and the 1974 World Cup in East Germany.
Coaching career
Olsson started coaching as a player-coach at AIK, where he was until 1980. AIK closed the handball department that year, which ended his tenure. He moved on to IFK Kristianstad where he was the coach from 1980 to 1982. In 1982 he returned to coach his childhood club Lugi HF, where he was the coach for 8 years.
References