Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics

See also: Goalball at the 2016 Summer Paralympics

Handball at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad

Tournament details
Host country	Brazil
Venue(s)	Future Arena
Dates	6–21 August 2016
Teams	24 (from 4 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Denmark (men)   Russia (women)
Runner-up	France (men)   France (women)
Third place	Germany (men)   Norway (women)
Fourth place	Poland (men)   Netherlands (women)
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The handball tournaments at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was held from 6 to 21 August at the Future Arena in the Barra Olympic Park. ^[1] The tournaments were won by Denmark in the men's competition and Russia for the women's tournament. The French teams for both competitions finished with the silver medal, and the bronze went to Germany and Norway, respectively.

Format

The handball event at the 2016 Summer Olympics was played between 6 and 21 August 2016 at the Future Arena in the Barra Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ^[2] The Games consisted of two tournaments, one each for men and women's teams. ^[3] The events featured twelve teams, who qualified for the tournament from a series of preceding tournaments, as well as the host country Brazil. The draw for the championships took place on 29 April 2016, and split the teams into round robin groups of six. ^[3] Four teams from each group qualified for the knockout rounds, and the winner and runner-up receiving gold and silver medals respectively. A third-placed play-off was contested for the bronze medal. ^[3]

Matches were played over 60 minutes, with two points being awarded to winners and a single point to draws in the group stage. ^[2] Teams tied for points in the group stage featured a series of tiebreaker criteria including head-to-head points, goal difference and goals scored. ^{[2] [4]}

Competition schedule

G

Group stage

¼

Quarter-finals

½

Semi-finals

B

Bronze medal match

F

Final

Date Event	Sat 6	Sun 7	Mon 8	Tue 9	Wed 10	Thu 11	Fri 12	Sat 13	Sun 14	Mon 15	Tue 16	Wed 17	Thu 18	Fri 19	Sat 20		Sun 21
Men		G		G		G		G		G		¼		½			B	F
Women	G		G		G		G		G		¼		½		B	F

Qualification

Main articles: Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's qualification and Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification

Qualification for the Olympics were awarded based on a series of tournaments before the event between January 2015 and April 2016. Each National Olympic Committee were allowed to enter one team each for men and women. The host country was guaranteed an entry in each event, as was the winner of the 2015 World Men's Handball Championship. Four more spots were awarded to the winners of continental qualification tournaments for Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Finally, six places were awarded through three Olympic qualification tournaments. These tournaments were open to the top six teams from the World Championship that had not already qualified as well as six entrants determined through a complex continental qualification algorithm. The twelve teams were divided into three round-robin tournaments featuring four teams, with the top two teams in each tournament qualifying. ^{[5] [6]}

Summary

Men's competition

The semi-finals saw France defeat Germany by a single point, after having a three point lead at half time. ^[7] The other semi-final between Poland and Denmark went to extra-time, with the scores tied at 25-25 where Denmark won the match 29-28. ^[8] The bronze medal match was held between Poland and Germany. The Polish side started hotly and had a 8-5 lead, before the Germans came back and held a 17-13 lead at half-time. ^[9] Germany pushed the lead to seven points after the third quarter, and eventually won the match 31-25 to win the bronze medal. ^{[10] [9]}

The Danish side met the French team in the final. ^[11] Leading at 16-14 after the first half, Denmark retained their lead to win the match 28-26. ^[10] This was Denmark's first medal in the handball event at the Olympics, having reached their best, a fourth place in 1984. ^[12] Danish player Jannick Green "dreamt about one day making" the final, and the team "worked really hard and played well". ^[12] The result put an end to the French period of dominance at the Olympics, having won the two prior events in 2008 and 2012. ^[13] French player Luka Karabatic commented "When you’ve got a medal around your neck it’s a little bit different and you can see what you achieved as a team... Getting a silver medal is something unbelievable." ^{[12] [14]}

Results

Men's competition

Main article: Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

The competition consisted of two stages; a group stage followed by a knockout stage. ^[15]

Group stage

The teams were divided into two groups of six nations, playing every team in their group once. Two points were awarded for a victory, one for a draw. The top four teams per group qualified for the quarter-finals.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia	5	4	0	1	147	134	+13	8 [a]	Quarter-finals
2	France	5	4	0	1	152	126	+26	8 [a]
3	Denmark	5	3	0	2	136	127	+9	6
4	Qatar	5	2	1	2	122	127	−5	5
5	Argentina	5	1	0	4	110	126	−16	2
6	Tunisia	5	0	1	4	118	145	−27	1

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.
Notes:

1. Croatia 29–28 France

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	5	4	0	1	153	141	+12	8 [a]	Quarter-finals
2	Slovenia	5	4	0	1	137	126	+11	8 [a]
3	Brazil (H)	5	2	1	2	141	150	−9	5
4	Poland	5	2	0	3	139	140	−1	4
5	Egypt	5	1	1	3	129	143	−14	3
6	Sweden	5	1	0	4	132	131	+1	2

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.
(H) Hosts
Notes:

1. Slovenia 25–28 Germany

Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Gold medal
	17 August
	Croatia	27
					19 August
	Poland	30
					Poland	28
	17 August
					Denmark (OT)	29
	Denmark	37
									21 August
	Slovenia	30
									Denmark	28
	17 August
									France	26
	Brazil	27
					19 August
	France	34
					France	29
	17 August
					Germany	28			Bronze medal
	Germany	34
									21 August
	Qatar	22
									4th   Poland	25
									Germany	31

Women's competition

Main article: Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The competition consisted of two stages; a group stage followed by a knockout stage.

Group stage

The teams were divided into two groups of six nations, playing every team in their group once. Two points were awarded for a victory, one for a draw. The top four teams per group qualified for the quarter-finals.

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil (H)	5	4	0	1	138	117	+21	8	Quarter-finals
2	Norway	5	4	0	1	141	121	+20	8
3	Spain	5	3	0	2	125	116	+9	6
4	Angola	5	2	0	3	116	128	−12	4
5	Romania	5	2	0	3	108	119	−11	4
6	Montenegro	5	0	0	5	107	134	−27	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Russia	5	5	0	0	165	147	+18	10	Quarter-finals
2	France	5	4	0	1	118	93	+25	8
3	Sweden	5	2	1	2	150	141	+9	5
4	Netherlands	5	1	2	2	135	135	0	4
5	South Korea	5	1	1	3	130	136	−6	3
6	Argentina	5	0	0	5	101	147	−46	0

Source: IHF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.

Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Gold medal
	16 August
	Brazil	23
					18 August
	Netherlands	32
					Netherlands	23
	16 August
					France	24
	Spain	26
									20 August
	France (OT)	27
									France	19
	16 August
									Russia	22
	Sweden	20
					18 August
	Norway	33
					Norway	37
	16 August
					Russia (OT)	38			Bronze medal
	Russia	31
									20 August
	Angola	27
									Netherlands	26
									Norway	36

Medal summary

Medalists

Below is a full list of players awarded medals at the championships. ^{[16] [17]}

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men details	Denmark  (DEN) Niklas Landin Jacobsen Mads Christiansen Mads Mensah Larsen Casper Ulrich Mortensen Jesper Nøddesbo Jannick Green Lasse Svan Hansen Rene Toft Hansen Henrik Mollgaard Kasper Sondergaard Henrik Toft Hansen Mikkel Hansen Morten Olsen Michael Damgaard	France  (FRA) Olivier Nyokas Daniel Narcisse Vincent Gérard Nikola Karabatić Kentin Mahé Mathieu Grébille Thierry Omeyer Timothey N'Guessan Luc Abalo Cedric Sorhaindo Michael Guigou Luka Karabatic Ludovic Fabregas Adrien Dipanda Valentin Porte	Germany  (GER) Uwe Gensheimer Finn Lemke Patrick Wiencek Tobias Reichmann Fabian Wiede Silvio Heinevetter Hendrik Pekeler Steffen Weinhold Martin Strobel Patrick Groetzki Kai Häfner Andreas Wolff Julius Kühn Christian Dissinger Paul Drux
Women details	Russia  (RUS) Anna Sedoykina Polina Kuznetsova Daria Dmitrieva Anna Sen Olga Akopyan Anna Vyakhireva Marina Sudakova Vladlena Bobrovnikova Victoria Zhilinskayte Yekaterina Marennikova Irina Bliznova Ekaterina Ilina Maya Petrova Tatyana Yerokhina Victoriya Kalinina	France  (FRA) Laura Glauser Blandine Dancette Camille Ayglon Allison Pineau Laurisa Landre Grace Zaadi Marie Prouvensier Amandine Leynaud Manon Houette Siraba Dembélé Chloé Bulleux Béatrice Edwige Estelle Nze Minko Gnonsiane Niombla Alexandra Lacrabère	Norway  (NOR) Kari Aalvik Grimsbø Mari Molid Emilie Hegh Arntzen Ida Alstad Veronica Kristiansen Heidi Løke Nora Mørk Stine Bredal Oftedal Marit Malm Frafjord Katrine Lunde Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren Amanda Kurtović Camilla Herrem Sanna Solberg

References

1. "Olympic Handball". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
2. "Olympic Handball". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016.
3. "Draw for Rio 2016 Handball Tournament". ihf.info. 16 February 2016. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
4. "Results Book – Handball" (pdf). library.olympic.org. Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
5. "Rio 2016 – IHF Handball Qualification System" (PDF). IHF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
6. "International Handball Federation > Draw for the 2016 Olympic Handball Tournaments staged in Rio". archive.ihf.info. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
7. "France 29-28 Germany" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
8. "Denmark 29-28 Poland ET" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 January 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
9. Verschueren, Gianni. "Olympic Handball 2016: Men's Team Medal Winners, Scores and Results". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 24 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
10. "Denmark beat France to handball gold". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 26 October 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
11. "Denmark 28-26 France" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 January 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
12. "International Handball Federation > Denmark end France's grip on Olympic title". archive.ihf.info. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
13. Ulmer, Alexandra (21 August 2016). "Handball: Delighted Denmark beat French champions to win first gold". U.S. Archived from the original on 29 November 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
14. "Great Danes surprise champions France to win men's handball gold - Olympic News". olympics.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
15. "Summer Olympics Results - Handball - ESPN".
16. IOC. "Rio 2016 handball men Results - Olympic handball". Olympics.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
17. IOC. "Rio 2016 handball women Results - Olympic handball". Olympics.com. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.

External links

• "Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics (Rio2016.com)". Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
• Handball at the 2016 Summer Olympics at SR/Olympics (archived)
• International Handball Federation
• Results Book – Handball