Claude Onesta
Claude Onesta ( born February 6, 1957 in Albi ) is a retired French handball player and current coach of the France national handball team.
From the age of eleven played Onesta in youth at ASEAT / Stade toulousain / Sporting Toulouse 31, Toulouse Handball today. He remained the club as a player until 1987. After that, he was coach of the team until 2001. With the team he was in 1998 Cup winner and 1999 runner-up in cup competition. In the EHF Champions League, he came with Toulouse 1999 semi-finals.
2001 Onesta was then successor of Daniel Costantini, as coach of the French national handball team. With his team he could win several times in the following years, all major titles in world handball and even create a historic triple, as he could be in a row, Olympic, world and European champions between 2008 and 2010; previously he won in 2006 already once the Handball European Championship with the French selection. After the Russians Vladimir Maximov Onesta is only the second coach who is a national managed all three major titles ( Olympic victory, European Champion and World Champion) to win at least once. This series he was able to expand with the new winning the World Cup again in 2011, when the French team could beat Denmark in the final after extra time. It was also the first time since 1974 that a nation could defend the world title successfully.
The hit series tore during the 2012 European Championship, as the French team did not survive the main round and thus did not qualify for the semifinals. It was the first time that the French team has missed a semifinal under Onesta. The next handball major event, the 2012 Olympics in London, which trained by Onesta French should win again, however. You defeated in the final, the Swedish selection with 22:21 goals and thus secured for the second time after 2008 the gold medal.
After a rather disappointing World Cup 2013 quarter-final -Ko against Croatia, located Onestas team was able to rehabilitate in the subsequent EM 2014 and defeated the hosts Denmark in the final with 41 to 32 gates.
Others
After the semi-final defeat by France against Germany at the 2007 World Championships criticized Onesta - similar to the Slovenian coach Kasim Kamenica and the Spanish coach Juan Carlos Pastor - the referees performance and even raised allegations of fraud. The relationship with his former German colleague Heiner Brand has since been very cold.
Onesta is married and has two children. He is a cousin of the politician Gérard Onesta.
Achievements
- European Champion 2014
- World Champion 2011
- European Champion 2010
- 2009 World Champion
- Gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and London 2012
- 3rd place at the 2008 European Championships
- 4th place at the 2007 World Cup
- 2006 European Champion
- 3rd place at the 2005 World Cup
- 3rd place at the 2003 World Cup