Sport-by-sport - Handball
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| Chairman | John Brewer | |
|---|---|---|
| Chief Executive | Paul Goodwin | |
| Performance Director | Lorraine Brown |
Sport Profile
| Funding Award (2009-2013) | £2,924,721 |
| Best London 2012 Performance | Both teams finished 12th. |
| Athletes on World Class Performance Programme | 48 |
| Past Performances | |
| Press Officer | Frazer Snowdon |
| Press Officer tel | 0114 232 5555 / 07846 304 382 |
| Website | http://www.britishhandball.com |
| National governing body | British Handball Association |
“The support that British Handball has received from the National Lottery and UK Sport has proved invaluable in helping handball grow massively in this country. It is one of the fastest growing sports in the country at the moment, and this growing pool of talent will surely help Great Britain field even more competitive teams in the future.”
British Handball Performance Director Lorraine Brown
At the London Olympic Games, Great Britain will be represented in handball for the first time in Olympic history. The men’s and women’s squads, backed by almost £3 million of UK Sport investment, have been allocated host nation places and will take on the world’s best at the Copper Box and Basketball Arena Olympic venues this summer.
Back in 2007, the UK Talent Team (UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport) gave handball a helping hand with the launch of the Talent ID campaign, Sporting Giants, which sought tall and talented athletes with the potential to compete at the very highest level in handball, rowing and volleyball.
The first appeal of its kind, Sporting Giants was launched by five-time Olympic champion Sir Steve Redgrave and attracted almost 5,000 applications. Among the athletes discovered through the campaign were current GB men’s captain, Bobby White, a former semi-professional football goalkeeper with Newport Pagnell, and former regional rugby player, Laura Innes.
Bobby said: “The prospect of representing my nation at a home Olympics is a strange thought considering I will have had just four seasons of handball experience when the opening ceremony takes place!”
GB’s handball stars have trained and competed right across Europe on their journeys to London 2012, playing with and against some of the best players in the world. Evidence of their progress came when, in November 2011, the women’s team beat African champions Angola in a thrilling 22-20 victory in their first match at the Copper Box in the official Olympic Test Event.
In April 2012, the men’s squad got some vital practice on home soil when they competed at the Pinsent Masons’ London Handball Cup in Crystal Palace, one of 118 major sporting events supported by UK Sport’s National Lottery funded Major Events Programme, staged in the UK in preparation for the Games.
Did You Know?
Former footballer Bobby White has never even heard of Handball before he trialled for UK Sport’s Sporting Giants, now he captains the GB side.
*Accurate as of May 2012
Selected athletes:
Men:
Bob White
Jesper Parker
John Pearce
Mark Hawkins
Martin Hare
Ciaran Williams
Chris Mohr
Steven Larsson
Seb Edgar
Seb Prieto
Gawain Vincent
Robin Garnham
Dan McMillan
Chris McDermott
Women:
Sarah Hargreaves
Jane Mayes
Zoe van der Weel
Holly Lam-Moores
Ewa Palies
Kathryn Fudge
Lynn McCafferty
Nina Heglund
Yvonne Leuthold
Marie Gerbron
Kelsi Fairbrother
Britt Goodwin
Louise Jukes
Lyn Byl
