Birgitte Wilbek

Wilbek started her trajectory in sports by doing gymnastics at Frederiksberg IF, starting in 1943.^[1] As sports seasons at the time were not full year activities, she started playing handball in the winter to complement the mostly summer gymnastics.^[1]

In 1946, she was involved in creating the basketball department at FIF.^[1]

Wilbek was included in the Denmark women's national basketball team 14 times and participated in two European Championships in 1954 and 1956.^[1]

In handball, she played all 32 Denmark national team matches between 1949 and 1957.^[4] She won the Danish Championship with Frederiksberg IF in 1956. She retired after the inaugural World Women's Handball Championship in 1957.^[1]

From 1963 to 1965, she was the head coach of the Denmark women's national handball team together with Else Birkmose. They were the first women to hold this position.^[5]

Wilbek was educated as a teacher at Blågård Seminarium in 1953. She later worked at Trongårdsskolen in Lyngby, near Copenhagen. In 1979, she became the principal at the school.

In 1964, she was co-founder of the athletics club Trongårdens Idrætsforening.^[6] In 1971, she was awarded Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality's sports award for her engagement in the club.^[6]

Between 1985 and 1991, Wilbek was part of the board at Team Danmark.^[6] In the 1960's, she was on the board of the Dansk Idræts-Forbund, where she drew attention to the lack of women's representation in the organisation.^[1]