Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-01-13

(BEIJING, January 12) — The second round of the preliminary sessions of the African Women’s Handball Championships was held in Angola on the morning of January 12, 2008. The host Angola earns the second straight victory and qualifies for the semifinals in advance.

In the Group A’s competition, Angola defeated Congo 35-30. In the other match, Algeria won narrowly 21-20 over Gabon. Angola tops the ranking with two victories. Since the last match of the preliminary sessions will oppose Congo to Algeria, both of which had one victory and one defeat, Angola has qualified for the semifinals in advance. Gabon, which suffered two defeats, has no chance to take part in the semifinals.

In the Group B competition staged in Huambo, Tunisia had a 24-24 tie with Cote d’Ivoire, while Cameroon overpowered DR Congo 29-24. DR Congo has been defeated twice and has no place in the semifinals. All the other three teams still have opportunities. In the last match, Tunisia will meet a hopeless DR Congo team, but the competition between Cote d’Ivoire and Cote d’Ivoire is likely to be quite tough.

The African Women’s Handball Championships are the qualification competition for the Beijing Olympic Games. A total of eight teams participate in the competition.

Updated: 2008-08-24 20:36:13

(BEIJING, August 24) — France dominated the final to win their first Olympic gold medal in Men’s Handball, with Iceland taking silver and Spain, bronze, on the last day of the Men’s competition at the National Indoor Stadium on Sunday, August 24.

Gold medal match:

France vs. Iceland: 28-23

The game was even for the first 13 minutes, but France scored five goals in a row to take control of the game from then on. France successfully blocked Iceland’s center-back Snorri Steinn Gudjonsson and pivot Robert Gunnarsson in attack. In front of the goal Thierry Omeyer (FRA) made sure every second shot got stopped. France also ruled in attack, led by star player Nikola Karabatic, who scored on eight of nine attempts in the match. France won their first Olympic gold medal in Men’s Handball, while Iceland won their first Olympic silver medal in Men’s Handball.

Bronze medal match:

Spain vs. Croatia: 35-29

The first half was close as Spain tightened their defense, with left-wing Juan Garcia and left-back Iker Romero giving an impressive performance in front of the Croatian goal. Garcia netted seven goals and Romero scored five. The second half saw Spain gradually advancing, and when pivot Carlos Prieto tricked three balls into the Croatian net to make the score 32-27, the Croatians gave up. Spain won the bronze medal, while Croatia finished fourth in the competition.

Placement 5-6 match:

Poland vs. Russia: 29-28

Russia had the upper hand from the start and advanced by scoring six goals in a row early on. The second half saw Poland trailing Russia for more than 20 minutes, always one goal behind. Solid right-wing Mariusz Jurasik, Poland’s top scorer with his six goals on Sunday, leveled the match 10 minutes before full time before his teammates Marcin Lijewski, Bartlomiej Jaszka and Grzegorz Tkaczyk gave great performances, turning the game around and winning. Poland took fifth place in the competition, while Russia finished sixth.

Placement 7-8 match:

Denmark vs. the Republic of Korea: 37-26

The match started slowly but both teams accelerated into the game towards half time. Denmark’s Lars Roslyng Christiansen succeeded in all three of his fast breaks, and the ROK’s Ko Kyung-soo made four fast breaks and scored in all of them. Ko was the top scorer for his team, netting 10 goals. The top scorer for Denmark was 20-year-old Mikkel Hansen, with eight goals, seven of them sharp long shots from 9m. Denmark took seventh place in the competition, while the Republic of Korea finished eighth.

The final ranking of teams in the Men’s Handball tournament in Beijing 2008 Olympics follows:

1. France

2. Iceland

3. Spain

4. Croatia

5. Poland

6. Russia

7. Denmark

8. The Republic of Korea

9. Germany

10. Egypt

11. Brazil

12. China

Updated: 2008-08-24 18:42:06

The France team celebrates after winning the Men’s Handball gold (Photo credit: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 24) — France crushed Iceland 28-23 to win their first Olympic gold medal in Men’s Handball at the National Indoor Stadium on Sunday, August 24.

The French closed down Iceland’s trademark shooting, and whenever Iceland found a gap they were denied by goalkeeper Thierry Omeyer, who saved an incredible 49 percent of all shots and made the Olympic Games All Star Team.

By comparison, Iceland goalkeeper Bjorgvin Pall Gustavsson saved just 36 percent, and his job was made harder by Iceland’s suffering defense.

Left-back Nikola Karabatic fired one sharp shot after another, either straight over or straight through Iceland’s defense, netting eight goals for France from nine attempts.

Center-back Bertrand Gille (FRA) effortlessly burst through Iceland’s defense, scoring four out of five shots from the 6m line.

The match remained close for only 13 minutes, when France netted five goals in a row to take a 9-4 lead, and from then on France were too strong for the Icelandic men.

France steadily increased their lead throughout the second half as Iceland started missing passes, letting France get away with easy steals.

Iceland did have the most fast breaks in the game, but only managed to score from five of 11.

Iceland’s attack suffered most from the lack of goals from leading scorer Snorri Steinn Gudjonsson (ISL), as the French blocking restricted him to two goals. The French also succeeded in neutralizing pivot Robert Gunnarsson (ISL), who only got in two shot attempts in the entire game.

A rare success for the Icelandic team was right-back Olafur Stefansson (ISL), who put five shots past goalkeeper Omeyer.

France started celebrating when they went nine goals ahead with six minutes left, and with less than a minute remaining Iceland settled for an Olympic silver medal.

Updated: 2008-08-24 17:31:46

Ingimundur Ingimundarson of Iceland challenges Nikola Karabatic. (Photo credit: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images)

France beat Iceland 28-23 to win the Olympic Men’s Handball gold medal on Sunday.

Earlier Spain downed Croatia 35-29 for the bronze medal.

Robert Gunnarsson of Iceland challenges Luc Abalo. (Photo credit: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images)
Nikola Karabatic (blue) of France tries to shoot. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Olivier Girault (L) of France shoots. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Updated: 2008-08-24 16:00:34

Belaustegui of Spain in action. (Photo credit: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 24) — After a tight match Spain defeated Croatia 35-29 in the bronze medal match of the Men’s Handball competition at the National Indoor Stadium on Sunday, August 24.

The first half was close as Spain tightened their defense and Jon Belaustegui was punished with two two-minute suspensions in the first 30 minutes which led to him spending most of the second half on the bench to avoid a red card.

Ivano Balic (Croatia) played well in the first half and scored two goals but in the second half he was almost invisible and only attempted two shots, both of which failed.

As a result of Spain’s tight blocking, Croatia was rewarded with eight 7m penalties in the game. Penalty specialist Mirza Dzomba nailed the first, but missed the next two and was subsequently replaced by Domagoj Duvnjak on the 7m throws. He netted the rest of Croatia’s penalty shots, five in total.

Spain’s left wing Juan Garcia and back Iker Romero impressed in front of the Croatian goal. Garcia netted seven goals, three from the wing position, another three in fast breaks and one from a 7m penalty shot. Romero scored five, of which three were from the 9m.

The second half was close but Spain gradually drew away and pivot Carlos Prieto tricked three balls into the Croatian net to make the score 32-27.

By that stage Croatia had given up their hunt for bronze and Spain were free to set up another three rather easy goals.

Prieto of Spain shoots marked by Valcic (L) and Sulic of Croatia. (Photo credit: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images)
Balic of Croatia competes with Prieto of Spain. (Photo credit: Vladimir Rys/Getty Images)

Updated: 2008-08-23 23:21:38

(BEIJING, August 23) — Dominant throughout the final, Norway nailed their first Olympic gold medal in Women’s Handball on Saturday, August 23, at the National Indoor Stadium. Russia earned silver, while the Republic of Korea took bronze.

Gold medal match:

Norway vs. Russia 34-27

The gold medal showdown resulted in the Norwegian girls’ comfortable victory, a reversal of roles from the 2007 World Championships, when Russia defeated Norway.

Halfway through the first half, Norway led 13-3. After a team time-out Russia came back and set up their strong defense to stop some of the many Scandinavian fast breaks. At halftime the Russian team narrowed the score gap to five goals, but they never managed to get any closer in the second half. Four minutes before full time Norway was up 10 goals. Starting their celebration a tad early allowed Russia to score four easy goals in the last couple of minutes.

Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth scored a team-high nine goals out of ten attempts for Norway, while the top scorer for the Russian team was Irina Bliznova, who nailed six goals.

Bronze medal match:

The Republic of Korea vs. Hungary: 33-28

The Asian side overpowered the European powerhouse and grabbed the bronze medal.

The first half of the match saw Hungary take a quick 6-2 lead, forcing the ROK to take a timeout, at the six-minute mark. The Asian side then netted five unanswered goals to move ahead 7-6. In the second half, ROK left-back Moon Pil-hee dominated in attack. She scored 10 goals, six of them sharp long shots from 9m. Hungary had to cope without their second best scorer, left-wing Orsolya Verten, who was injured in the semifinal against Russia and spent the medal match on the bench. Hungary’s top scorer, Anita Gorbicz, made five goals, but also missed six shots.

Placement 5-6 match:

China vs. France: 23-31

France came out fighting and led 4-1 after 10 minutes. The most eager French player was probably goalkeeper Valerie Nicolas, who saved an amazing 17 of 37 shots. Right-back Sophie Herbrecht and pivot Veronique Pecqueux-Rolland scored seven goals apiece, Herbrecht with sharp long shots from the 9m line and Pecqueux-Rolland breaking through a weak Chinese defense.

After several underperforming matches, France made a come back by rattling silver medalist Russia, overpowering red-hot Romania and outplaying China, who defeated Les Bleus in the prelims. But the upper hand that France gained was too late.

Placement 7-8 match:

Sweden vs. Romania: 30-34

Romania had the upper hand in the game, and the team’s attacks were led by pivot Ionela Stanca, who scored six goals, and center-back Mihaela Ani Senocico, who scored five on five shots. Center-back Isabelle Gullden stood out on the Swedish side, with nine goals.

Although Romania started out as a medal favorite in this Olympic tournament, the team didn’t live up to expectations. But sharp-shooter Ramona Maier, as the tournament’s top scorer, with 56 goals, stood out and has been selected by the International Handball Federation for the All-Star team.

The final ranking of teams in the Women’s Handball tournament of the Beijing Olympics is as follows:

1. Norway

2. Russia

3. The Republic of Korea

4. Hungary

5. France

6. China

7. Romania

8. Sweden

9. Brazil

10. Kazakhstan

11. Germany

12. Angola

Updated: 2008-08-23 18:52:08

Norway players celebrate winning the gold medal (Photo credit: Lars Baron/Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 23) — Norway’s Women’s team won their National Olympic Committee’s first Handball gold medal by convincingly beating Russia 34-27 at National Indoor Stadium on Saturday.

The win avenged Norway’s loss against Russia in the final of the 2007 world championships.

Norway took a dominant 13-3 lead early in the first half and never trailed. Five of their goals came from right back Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth, four in fast breaks.

The Norwegians made 12 fast breaks in just the first half, scoring on 10 of them.

Russia’s coach Evgeny Trefilov made changes to stop the fast breaks and allow Russia to build their strong defense, which slowed the pace and let Russia assemble a stronger attack.

Right back Irina Bliznova led her team with five goals in the first half, so Russia had narrowed the gap at half time - but still trailed 18-13.

They never got closer, even though Elena Polenova, Liudmila Postnova and Ekaterina Andryushina shot well and pressured goalkeeper Katrine Lunde Haraldsen.

Left wing Elena Dmitrieva (RUS) also broke through to score three times.

An eye injury forced key player Tonje Larsen (NOR) to leave the field after 16 minutes of the second half and she spent the rest of the game on the bench.

But Russia’s defense slipped and they let Riegelhuth and Else Marthe Soerlie Lybekk continue to produce fast breaks, so Norway pushed ahead again and took another 10-goal lead four minutes before full time.

Norway rested first-choice goalkeeper Haraldsen and used Kari Aalvik Grimsboe for the final minutes - and they began to celebrate early, allowing Russia to score four last-minute goals.

That narrowed the gap, but the result was never in doubt.