Olsson earned three Olympic silver medals as a player for the Swedish national team, and one Olympic silver medal as a coach.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Team Handball today announced the hiring of three-time Olympic medalist Staffan Olsson as high performance director. In his role, Olsson will oversee the management and direction of USA Team Handball’s national teams, determine a pipeline of new athletes at the elite level, and develop the training program for coaches and officials at various levels of the sport, among other things.
“Staffan brings the tremendous wealth of experience and skill that USATH strongly needs in order to further develop its players and talent, as well as to significantly help develop a strong pipeline process for new talent development,” said USA Team Handball CEO Barry Siff. “We are so excited to have one of the greatest handball players and coaches come aboard and join our team. I have no doubt that he will make an incredible impact on our players, coaches and staff.”
A two-time world champion and four-time European champion, Olsson helped the Swedish men’s handball team earn three Olympic silver medals between 1992 and 2000. He logged 358 caps and 852 goals for Sweden during his 18-year national team career from 1986 to 2004.
As a coach, Olsson helped guide the Swedish national handball team to another Olympic silver medal.
“I am truly looking forward to working with the athletes, coaches and staff at USA Team Handball,” Olsson said. “This is a very exciting new step for me, and I will fully embrace the challenges that may come with the task. I plan on working very hard to help the sport of handball develop and grow in the United States, so that Americans will begin to love and celebrate the sport that I have dedicated my life to.”
In addition to coaching the Swedish national handball team, Olsson has also coached for the Hammarby Handball Club, guiding the team to three consecutive Swedish national championships from 2006 to 2008. He most recently served as assistant coach to Paris St. Germain, helping them win three French championship titles.
He has served as a handball coach for 12 years in total.
About USA Team Handball: USA Team Handball (USATH) is the U.S. National Governing Body for the Olympic discipline of Team Handball, and is responsible for the development of grassroots programs, preparation of national teams for international competition - including the Pan American and Olympic Games - as well as the day-to-day oversight of the sport of team handball in the United States. The mission of USATH is to develop, promote, educate and grow the sport of team handball at all levels domestically, and to enable U.S. athletes to achieve sustained competitive excellence to win medals in international and Olympic competition. USATH is a member of the International Handball Federation, the North American and Caribbean Handball Confederation, and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, and is headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Media Contact: Melissa Zhang | (508) 768-5649 | Melissa.Zhang@usateamhandball.org