Handball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Handball at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Tournament details
Host country	Japan
Venue(s)	Yoyogi National Gymnasium
Dates	24 July – 8 August 2021
Teams	24 (from 5 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	France (men); France (women)
Runner-up	Denmark (men); ROC (women)
Third place	Spain (men); Norway (women)
Fourth place	Egypt (men); Sweden (women)

The handball tournaments at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 24 July to 8 August 2021 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo.^[1]^[2]^[3]

It was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, but on 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4] The pandemic meant that there were no spectators. The format was the same as it has been since 2000 for the men and 2008 for the women: 12 teams in two groups playing round robin followed by knock-out matches for the eight best starting with quarter-finals and ending with final and bronze match.

France took both gold medals as the first team since Yugoslavia in Los Angeles 1984. Both finals were a repetition of the last ones: Denmark versus France for the men and Russia/ROC versus France for the women. In 2016 France lost both matches.

Norway got their second bronze in a row for the woman and Spain got the bronze for the men defeating Egypt, who got their best result ever and became best non-European team for the men. South Korea became best non-European team for the women. The host Japan became last for the women and second last for the men surpassing Argentina.

Most valuable players were Anna Vyakhireva (ROC) for the women and Mathias Gidsel (DEN) for the men. Mikkel Hansen (DEN) broke two records for men at the olympics: most goal in a tournament (61) and most goals in olympic handball (154).

Schedule

Legend
G	Group stage	¼	Quarterfinals	½	Semifinals	B	Bronze medal match	F	Gold medal match

^[5]^[6]

Date Event	Sat 24	Sun 25	Mon 26	Tue 27	Wed 28	Thu 29	Fri 30	Sat 31	Sun 1	Mon 2	Tue 3	Wed 4	Thu 5	Fri 6	Sat 7		Sun 8
Men	G		G		G		G		G		¼		½		B	F
Women		G		G		G		G		G		¼		½			B	F

Events

Two sets of medals will be awarded in the following events:

Men's handball (12 teams)
Women's handball (12 teams)

Qualification

The National Olympic Committees might enter only one 14-player men's team and only one 14-player women's team.

Men's qualification

Qualification	Date	Host(s)	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation	—	—	1	Japan
2019 World Championship	10–27 January 2019	Denmark Germany	1	Denmark
2019 Pan American Games	31 July – 5 August 2019	Lima	1	Argentina
AHF Men’s Asian qualification event	17–26 October 2019	Doha	1	Bahrain
2020 European Championship	10–26 January 2020	Austria Norway Sweden	1	Spain
2020 African Championship	16–26 January 2020	Tunisia	1	Egypt
2020 IHF Men's Olympic Qualification Tournaments	12–14 March 2021	Podgorica	2	Norway Brazil
		Montpellier	2	France Portugal
		Berlin	2	Sweden Germany
Total			12

Women's qualification

Qualification	Date	Host	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation	—	—	1	Japan
2018 European Championship	29 November – 16 December 2018	France	1	France
2019 Pan American Games	24–30 July 2019	Lima	1	Brazil
2019 Asian Qualification Tournament	23–29 September 2019	Chuzhou	1	South Korea
2019 African Qualification Tournament	26–29 September 2019	Dakar	1	Angola
2019 World Championship	29 November – 15 December 2019	Japan	1	Netherlands
2020 IHF Women's Olympic Qualification Tournaments	19–21 March 2021	Llíria	2	Spain Sweden
		Győr	2	ROC Hungary
		Podgorica	2	Montenegro Norway
Total			12

Medal summary

Medal table


Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	France	2	0	0	2
2	Denmark	0	1	0	1
2	ROC	0	1	0	1
4	Norway	0	0	1	1
4	Spain	0	0	1	1
Totals (5 entries)		2	2	2	6

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men	France Luc Abalo Hugo Descat Ludovic Fabregas Yann Genty Vincent Gérard Michaël Guigou Luka Karabatic Nikola Karabatić Romain Lagarde Kentin Mahé Dika Mem Timothey N'Guessan Valentin Porte Nedim Remili Melvyn Richardson Nicolas Tournat	Denmark Lasse Andersson Mathias Gidsel Jóhan Hansen Mikkel Hansen Jacob Holm Emil Jakobsen Niklas Landin Jacobsen Magnus Landin Jacobsen Mads Mensah Larsen Kevin Møller Henrik Møllgaard Morten Olsen Magnus Saugstrup Lasse Svan Henrik Toft Hansen	Spain Julen Aguinagalde Rodrigo Corrales Alex Dujshebaev Raúl Entrerríos Ángel Fernández Adrià Figueras Antonio García Robledo Aleix Gómez Gedeón Guardiola Eduardo Gurbindo Jorge Maqueda Viran Morros Gonzalo Pérez de Vargas Miguel Sánchez-Migallón Daniel Sarmiento Ferran Solé
Women	France Méline Nocandy Blandine Dancette Pauline Coatanea Chloé Valentini Allison Pineau Coralie Lassource Grâce Zaadi Deuna Amandine Leynaud Kalidiatou Niakaté Cléopatre Darleux Océane Sercien-Ugolin Laura Flippes Béatrice Edwige Pauletta Foppa Estelle Nze Minko Alexandra Lacrabère	ROC Anna Sedoykina Polina Kuznetsova Polina Gorshkova Daria Dmitrieva Anna Sen Anna Vyakhireva Polina Vedekhina Vladlena Bobrovnikova Kseniya Makeyeva Elena Mikhaylichenko Olga Fomina Ekaterina Ilina Yulia Managarova Antonina Skorobogatchenko Victoriya Kalinina	Norway Henny Reistad Veronica Kristiansen Marit Malm Frafjord Stine Skogrand Nora Mørk Stine Bredal Oftedal Silje Solberg Kari Brattset Dale Katrine Lunde Marit Røsberg Jacobsen Camilla Herrem Sanna Solberg-Isaksen Kristine Breistøl Marta Tomac Vilde Johansen

Men's tournament

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	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	5	4	1	162	148	+14	8^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Quarter-finals
2	Spain	5	4	1	155	142	+13	8^{[lower-alpha 1]}
3	Germany	5	3	2	146	131	+15	6^{[lower-alpha 2]}
4	Norway	5	3	2	136	132	+4	6^{[lower-alpha 2]}
5	Brazil	5	1	4	128	145	−17	2
6	Argentina	5	0	5	125	154	−29	0

Source: Tokyo 2020 and 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 2 France 36–31 Spain
1 2 Germany 28–23 Norway

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Denmark	5	4	1	174	139	+35	8^{[lower-alpha 1]}	Quarter-finals
2	Egypt	5	4	1	154	134	+20	8^{[lower-alpha 1]}
3	Sweden	5	4	1	144	142	+2	8^{[lower-alpha 1]}
4	Bahrain	5	1	4	129	149	−20	2^{[lower-alpha 2]}
5	Portugal	5	1	4	143	156	−13	2^{[lower-alpha 2]}
6	Japan (H)	5	1	4	146	170	−24	2^{[lower-alpha 2]}

Source: Tokyo 2020 and 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 2 3 Denmark 2 Pts, +2 GD; Egypt 2 Pts, 0 GD, Sweden 2 Pts, −2 GD
1 2 3 Bahrain 2 Pts, +1 GD; Portugal 2 Pts, 0 GD, Japan 2 Pts, −1 GD

Knockout stage

Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Gold medal

3 August

France	42
		5 August
Bahrain	28
		France	27
3 August
		Egypt	23
Germany	26
				7 August
Egypt	31
				France	25
3 August
				Denmark	23
Sweden	33
		5 August
Spain	34
		Spain	23
3 August
		Denmark	27	Bronze medal
Denmark	31
				7 August
Norway	25
				Spain	33

				Egypt	31

Final standings

Rank	Team^[7]
	France
	Denmark
	Spain
4	Egypt
5	Sweden
6	Germany
7	Norway
8	Bahrain
9	Portugal
10	Brazil
11	Japan
12	Argentina

Women's tournament