Iceland review - 2013, Side 21

TAKK
ÓLI
Ólafur Stefánsson is Iceland’s greatest sportsman and
one of the best—if not the best—handballer ever.
Ólafur was born in 1973 and played his first international game
21 years ago.
He has earned the title Sportsperson of the Year in Iceland four
times, won the silver medal for Iceland at the Beijing Olympics
in 2008, the bronze at the European Championship 2010 and
four times won the EHF (European Handball Federation)
Champions League for different clubs. This spring he was named
the best right back in the CL’s 20-year history.
Ólafur has been national champion in five countries, Iceland,
Germany, Spain, Denmark, and most recently in Qatar, where he
was crowned the league’s best player at age 40.
Now, Ólafur is putting his handball shoes to rest, but he hasn’t
given up the sport. He has moved back home to Iceland and
will coach the club where he started his career a century ago,
Valur, next season.
Takk Óli! 
Close to 40,000 Icelanders
posted a thank you note on
takk.oli.is before handballer
Ólafur Stefánsson played his
last and 330th international game
with the Icelandic national team
against Romania on June 16,
scoring a total of 1,579 goals in
his career with the team.
WORDS AnD PHOTO By PáLL STeFáNSSoN