Christopher McDermott (born 7 June 1989) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

player. He competed as part of

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. ...

at the 2012 London Olympic Games. He currently coaches the GB Men's Under 20s. Past clubs include R.D. Slovan of Slovenia, Danish Liga side Aarhus G.F. and German Bundasliga side

TUSEM Essen TUSEM Essen is a handball club from Essen, Germany. Currently, they compete in the 2. Handball-Bundesliga. Accomplishments *Handball-Bundesliga: 3 **: 1986, 1987, 1989 *DHB-Pokal: 3 **: 1988, 1991, 1992 *EHF Champions League: 1 **: 1988 * EHF ...

. In June 2015 he became the Great Britain handball team's most-capped player, surpassing Mick Hegarty's long-standing record of 55 caps set in the 1980s.

Biography

Having played for Wirral Handball Club since the age of 10, Christopher was selected at the age of 16 to move to

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

as part of the GB Handball teams centralized program. After progressing through the ranks of the Danish youth club

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

Christopher was granted a move to Germany to play for

. He has since played for Aarhus GF Håndbold, RD Slovan, UMF Afturelding and Salford H.C. (Now known as

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

) In May 2012 Christopher was selected for the London

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Injuries nearly prevented him from doing so, with the player suffering a ruptured muscle the day before the opening ceremony. He managed to play through the injury and proceeded to play a big part in each of Team GB's matches at the games.

competed against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

, where GB was unable to record a win despite having risen dramatically through the world rankings, aided by more funding than usual, enabling them to build a platform. In reality, winning against one of the world's top teams had always been an extremely tall order (despite running silver medallists Iceland very close until halftime) and the real purpose of the efforts of the squad was to build a base for handball to develop in the UK. In this he and his teammates were successful, and handball remains a legacy sport of London 2012, recording significant, sustained expansion in the period since. Post 2012, McDermott and his Warrington Wolves teammates have broken the historic stranglehold overseas ex-pat players had previously enjoyed in British Leagues and with a team made up wholly of British young players now dominate the English Handball Premier League with successive League and Cup doubles and victory in the British Cup making up a historic treble.

Biography

References

External links