Else Birkmose
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Copenhagen, Denmark
Ålsgårde, Denmark
| Else Birkmose | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
| Born |
3 January 1931 Copenhagen, Denmark | |||||||||||||
| Died |
28 July 1998 (aged 67) Ålsgårde, Denmark | |||||||||||||
| Nationality | Danish | |||||||||||||
| Senior clubs | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||
1947–? | Handelsstandens Gymnastikforening | |||||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
1948–1962 | Denmark | 63 | (109[1]) | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
Else Gunnarsson née Birkmose-Pedersen (3 January 1931 – 28 September 1998) was a Danish handball and basketball player. She represented Denmark on both national teams. She was part of the Danish team that won silver medals at the 1962 World Women's Handball Championship in Romania.
Birkmose was introduced to the game in 1944-45 when handball players from Copenhagen-based club Handelsstandens Gymnastikforening were practicing at the school.[2] She debuted for the handball team of HG in 1947. With the club she won 7 Danish league titles between 1951 and 1965. She won the 1964–65 European Cup with HG. This was the first time a Danish club had won the tournament. The following season, they reached the final, but lost to East German club SC Leipzig. During the 1960s she was considered one the best female handball players in the world. She was known as technical player with great tactical understanding.[2]
Birkmose debuted for the Danish national team in 1948.[1] She competed at the first ever Women's World Championship in Yugoslavia 1957, where Denmark finished 5th. In 1956 she would be the first the reach 25 caps for the Danish Women's National Team.[3]
She retired from the handball national team after the 1962 World Women's Handball Championship in Romania, where Denmark won silver medals.[1][4]
In 1963 she became the head coach of the Denmark women's national handball team together with Birgitte Wilbek. They were the first, and until this date, the only women on the position.[5] Under their leadership the team developed from a team mostly there to provide exercise to a competitively viable team.[2]
