Handball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

Women's handball
at the XXXII Olympiad
Tournament details
Host country	Japan
Venue(s)	Yoyogi National Stadium
Dates	25 July – 8 August 2021
Teams	12
Final positions
Champions	France (1st title)
Runner-up	ROC
Third place	Norway
Fourth place	Sweden
Tournament statistics
Matches played	38
Goals scored	2,176 (57.26 per match)
Attendance	0 (0 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Nora Mørk; (52 goals)
Best player	Anna Vyakhireva
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The women's handball tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics was the 12th edition of the handball event for women at the Summer Olympic Games. It was held from 25 July to 8 August 2021. All games were played at the Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.^[1]

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.^[2] Because of this pandemic, the games were played behind closed doors.^[3]

The final was a rematch of the previous between France and Russia. After Russia won 22–19 in the 2016 final France got the upper hand with a 30–25 win this time.^[4] Norway won the bronze medal after winning 36–19 against Sweden.^[5] France became the first nation since 1984 to win both the men's and women's tournaments

The medals for the competition were presented by

Anna Rapp, Sweden; IHF Treasurer

.

Schedule

The schedule was as follows.[6]

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

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
G		G		G		G		G		¼		½			B	F

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

Draw

The draw was held on 1 April 2021.^[7]^[8]

Seeding

The seeding was revealed on 21 March 2021.^[9]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Netherlands Spain	ROC Montenegro	Norway Hungary	Sweden Japan	France South Korea	Angola Brazil

Referees

The referee pairs were announced on 21 April 2021.^[10]

Referees
Algeria	Youcef Belkhiri Sid Ali Hamidi
Argentina	María Paolantoni Mariana García
Croatia	Matija Gubica Boris Milošević
Czech Republic	Václav Horáček Jiří Novotný
Denmark	Mads Hansen Jesper Madsen
Egypt	Yasmina El-Saied Heidy El-Saied
France	Charlotte Bonaventura Julie Bonaventura
Germany	Robert Schulze Tobias Tönnies

Referees
North Macedonia	Gjorgji Nachevski Slave Nikolov
Portugal	Duarte Santos Ricardo Fonseca
Russia	Viktoriia Alpaidze Tatiana Berezkina
Slovenia	Bojan Lah David Sok
South Korea	Koo Bon-ok Lee Se-ok
Spain	Óscar Raluy Ángel Sabroso
Sweden	Mirza Kurtagic Mattias Wetterwik
Switzerland	Arthur Brunner Morad Salah

Rosters

Group stage

All times are local (UTC+9).^[11]^[12]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Norway	5	5	0	0	170	123	+47	10	Quarter-finals
2	Netherlands	5	4	0	1	169	143	+26	8
3	Montenegro	5	2	0	3	139	142	−3	4
4	South Korea	5	1	1	3	147	165	−18	3^[a]
5	Angola	5	1	1	3	130	156	−26	3^[a]
6	Japan (H)	5	1	0	4	124	150	−26	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:

^ ^a ^b South Korea 31–31 Angola

25 July 2021 09:00	Netherlands	32–21	Japan	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: García, Paolantoni (ARG)
	Abbingh 7	(18–10)	Fujii 5
	2×	Report	1× 3×

25 July 2021 14:15	Montenegro	33–22	Angola	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Alpaidze, Berezkina (RUS)
	Radičević 12	(13–12)	Kamalandua 6
	2× 3×	Report	5×

25 July 2021 16:15	Norway	39–27	South Korea	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Brattset Dale 11	(18–10)	Sim 5
	5×	Report	1× 2×

27 July 2021 09:00	Japan	29–26	Montenegro	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Alpaidze, Berezkina (RUS)
	Hara, Ikehara 6	(14–13)	Brnović 6
	1× 8× 1×	Report	2× 3×

27 July 2021 16:15	South Korea	36–43	Netherlands	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Ryu 10	(15–19)	Abbingh 6
	1× 2×	Report	2× 7×

27 July 2021 19:30	Angola	21–30	Norway	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: García, Paolantoni (ARG)
	Guialo, Kassoma 6	(10–15)	Solberg-Isaksen 7
	4×	Report	2× 3×

29 July 2021 09:00	Netherlands	37–28	Angola	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: El-Saied, El-Saied (EGY)
	Van Wetering 7	(17–15)	Guialo 8
	1× 1× 1×	Report	5×

29 July 2021 14:15	Japan	24–27	South Korea	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Kurtagic, Wetterwik (SWE)
	Kondo 7	(11–12)	Ryu 9
	1× 3×	Report	3×

29 July 2021 16:15	Montenegro	23–35	Norway	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Radičević 6	(13–13)	Mørk, Reistad 7
	2× 3×	Report	3×

31 July 2021 09:00	Angola	28–25	Japan	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: García, Paolantoni (ARG)
	three players 5	(15–13)	Hara 6
	1× 2×	Report	1× 1×

31 July 2021 11:00	Montenegro	28–26	South Korea	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: El-Saied, El-Saied (EGY)
	Radičević 6	(13–11)	Lee 10
	2× 4×	Report	3×

31 July 2021 21:30	Norway	29–27	Netherlands	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Alpaidze, Berezkina (RUS)
	Mørk 9	(16–13)	Smits 7
	2×	Report	3×

2 August 2021 09:00	South Korea	31–31	Angola	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Jung, Kang E. 7	(16–17)	Guialo 8
		Report	7×

2 August 2021 19:30	Netherlands	30–29	Montenegro	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Fonseca, Santos (POR)
	Van der Heijden 5	(17–12)	Radičević 8
	1× 5×	Report	2× 3×

2 August 2021 21:30	Norway	37–25	Japan	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: El-Saied, El-Saied (EGY)
	Frafjord 6	(16–11)	Ohyama, Yokoshima 5
	3×	Report	2× 1×

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Sweden	5	3	1	1	152	133	+19	7^[a]	Quarter-finals
2	ROC	5	3	1	1	148	149	−1	7^[a]
3	France	5	2	1	2	139	135	+4	5
4	Hungary	5	2	0	3	142	149	−7	4^[b]
5	Spain	5	2	0	3	135	142	−7	4^[b]
6	Brazil	5	1	1	3	133	141	−8	3

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:

^ ^a ^b Sweden 36–24 ROC
^ ^a ^b Hungary 29–25 Spain

25 July 2021 11:00	ROC	24–24	Brazil	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Fonseca, Santos (POR)
	Ilyina 6	(14–12)	De Paula 7
	2× 3×	Report	1× 4×

25 July 2021 19:30	Spain	24–31	Sweden	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Koo, Lee (KOR)
	Pena 7	(9–13)	Hansson 6
	1× 3×	Report	2×

25 July 2021 21:30	Hungary	29–30	France	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Hansen, Madsen (DEN)
	Vámos 7	(12–15)	Zaadi 10
	3×	Report	1× 4×

27 July 2021 11:00	Brazil	33–27	Hungary	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Koo, Lee (KOR)
	Belo, Vieira 7	(17–11)	Schatzl 7
	1× 4×	Report	3×

27 July 2021 14:15	Sweden	36–24	ROC	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: El-Saied, El-Saied (EGY)
	Strömberg 8	(15–9)	Vedekhina 5
	1×	Report	1× 4×

27 July 2021 21:30	France	25–28	Spain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Coatanea, Pineau 5	(12–12)	Martín 6
	2× 3×	Report	2× 5×

29 July 2021 11:00	Spain	27–23	Brazil	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Hansen, Madsen (DEN)
	Pena 7	(13–13)	De Paula 8
	1× 1×	Report	1× 3×

29 July 2021 19:30	Hungary	31–38	ROC	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Brunner, Salah (SUI)
	Klujber 9	(17–22)	Dmitrieva 7
	1× 5×	Report	1× 5×

29 July 2021 21:30	Sweden	28–28	France	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Fonseca, Santos (POR)
	Strömberg 7	(16–17)	Foppa 6
	1× 3×	Report	1× 4×

31 July 2021 14:15	ROC	28–27	France	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Hansen, Madsen (DEN)
	Ilyina 9	(15–17)	Pineau 9
	2× 1×	Report	1× 2×

31 July 2021 16:15	Brazil	31–34	Sweden	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Koo, Lee (KOR)
	Do Nascimento 7	(13–15)	Hansson, Roberts 6
	1× 4×	Report	5×

31 July 2021 19:30	Hungary	29–25	Spain	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Fonseca, Santos (POR)
	Klujber, Vámos 6	(14–11)	Gutiérrez Bermejo, Martín 5
	1× 5×	Report	2×

2 August 2021 11:00	France	29–22	Brazil	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Lassource, Pineau 4	(17–11)	Do Nascimento 6
	2×	Report	2×

2 August 2021 14:15	Spain	31–34	ROC	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Hansen, Madsen (DEN)
	López 7	(17–18)	Vyakhireva 7
	1× 1×	Report	2×

2 August 2021 16:15	Hungary	26–23	Sweden	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: García, Paolantoni (ARG)
	five players 4	(15–15)	Carlson, Hagman 5
	1× 1×	Report	5×

Knockout stage

Bracket

Quarterfinals		Semifinals		Gold medal

4 August

Norway	26
		6 August
Hungary	22
		Norway	26
4 August
		ROC	27
Montenegro	26
				8 August
ROC	32
				ROC	25
4 August
				France	30
France	32
		6 August
Netherlands	22
		France	29
4 August
		Sweden	27	Bronze medal
Sweden	39
				8 August
South Korea	30
				Norway	36

				Sweden	19

Quarterfinals

4 August 2021 09:30	Montenegro	26–32	ROC	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Kurtagic, Wetterwik (SWE)
	Radičević 10	(15–17)	Vyakhireva 8
	1× 1×	Report	7×

4 August 2021 13:15	Norway	26–22	Hungary	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Brattset Dale 7	(12–10)	Szöllősi-Zácsik 5
		Report	2×

4 August 2021 17:00	Sweden	39–30	South Korea	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Alpaidze, Berezkina (RUS)
	three players 6	(21–13)	Kang K. 8
	1× 3×	Report	4×

4 August 2021 20:45	France	32–22	Netherlands	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Hansen, Madsen (DEN)
	Flippes 6	(19–11)	Malestein 5
	1×	Report	4×

Semifinals

6 August 2021 17:00	France	29–27	Sweden	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Zaadi 7	(15–14)	Carlson, Westberg 6
	1× 6×	Report	1× 4× 1×

6 August 2021 21:00	Norway	26–27	ROC	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Mørk 10	(11–14)	Vyakhireva 9
	1× 4×	Report	1× 3× 1×

Bronze medal game

8 August 2021 11:00	Norway	36–19	Sweden	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Alpaidze, Berezkina (RUS)
	Brattset Dale, Mørk 8	(19–7)	Carlson, Westberg 4
	1× 3×	Report	3×

Gold medal game

8 August 2021 15:00	ROC	25–30	France	Yoyogi National Gymnasium, Tokyo Referees: Lah, Sok (SLO)
	Vedekhina 7	(13–15)	Foppa, Pineau 7
	1× 5×	Report	1× 5×

Ranking and statistics

Final ranking

Rank	Team^[13]
	France
	ROC
	Norway
4	Sweden
5	Netherlands
6	Montenegro
7	Hungary
8	South Korea
9	Spain
10	Angola
11	Brazil
12	Japan

All Star Team

The all-star team was announced on 8 August 2021.^[14]

Position	Player
Goalkeeper	Katrine Lunde
Left wing	Polina Kuznetsova
Left back	Jamina Roberts
Centre back	Grâce Zaadi
Right back	Anna Vyakhireva
Right wing	Laura Flippes
Pivot	Pauletta Foppa
MVP	Anna Vyakhireva

Top goalscorers


Rank	Name	Goals	Shots	%
1	Nora Mørk	52	72	72
2	Jovanka Radičević	46	57	81
3	Anna Vyakhireva	43	71	61
4	Jamina Roberts	39	59	66
5	Yekaterina Ilyina	35	49	71
6	Pauletta Foppa	34	42	81
6	Carin Strömberg	34	62	55
8	Kari Brattset Dale	33	43	77
	Daria Dmitrieva		55	60
	Grâce Zaadi		56	59

Source: IHF

Top goalkeepers

Rank	Name	%	Saves	Shots
1	Katrine Lunde	37,8	45	119
2	Minami Itano	36,7	18	49
3	Silje Solberg	35,8	62	173
4	Sakura Hauge	33,7	56	166
5	Cléopatre Darleux	32,8	43	131
5	Jessica Ryde	32,8	39	119
7	Silvia Navarro	32,6	44	135
8	Amandine Leynaud	30,3	50	165
9	Anna Sedoykina	28,7	50	174
10	Blanka Bíró	28,2	50	177

Source: IHF

Medalists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
France Méline Nocandy Blandine Dancette Pauline Coatanea Chloé Valentini Allison Pineau Coralie Lassource (c) Grâce Zaadi Deuna Amandine Leynaud (GK) Kalidiatou Niakaté Cléopatre Darleux (GK) Océane Sercien-Ugolin Laura Flippes Béatrice Edwige Pauletta Foppa Estelle Nze Minko Alexandra Lacrabère Head coach: Olivier Krumbholz	ROC Ekaterina Ilina Yulia Managarova Antonina Skorobogatchenko Victoriya Kalinina (GK) Head coach: Alexey Alekseev	Norway Silje Solberg (GK) Kari Brattset Dale Katrine Lunde (GK) Marit Røsberg Jacobsen Camilla Herrem Sanna Solberg-Isaksen Kristine Breistøl Marta Tomac Vilde Johansen Head coach: Thorir Hergeirsson

References

^ "Women's Handball at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games". Olympedia. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
^ "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". olympic.org. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
^ "Tokyo Olympics to be held without fans after new COVID-19 state of emergency declared". usatoday.com. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
^ "France seal double in emphatic fashion". ihf.info. 8 August 2021.
^ "Norway steamrolls Sweden to claim bronze in women's handball". nbcolympics.com. 8 August 2021.
^ "Handball Competition Schedule". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
^ "Draw details for Tokyo 2020 Handball Tournaments known". ihf.info. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
^ "Results: Tokyo 2020 draws". ihf.info. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
^ "Draw and seeding information: Tokyo 2020 Women's Handball Tournament". ihf.info. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
^ "IHF announces referees for Tokyo 2020". ihf.info. 21 April 2021.
^ "Tokyo 2020 preliminary round clashes revealed". ihf.info. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
^ "Tokyo 2020 Handball Tournaments – Match schedule confirmed". ihf.info. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
^ "Tournament Summary" (PDF). olympics.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
^ "Tokyo 2020 Women's All-Star Team". ihf.info. 8 August 2021.

[table_hth_KOR0.91185207428031-13] South Korea 31–31 Angola

[table_hth_SWE0.75401515176241-14] Sweden 36–24 ROC

[table_hth_HUN0.75401515176241-15] Hungary 29–25 Spain

[Olympedia-1] "Women's Handball at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games". Olympedia. Retrieved November 2, 2023.

[2] "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". olympic.org. Retrieved 24 March 2020.

[3] "Tokyo Olympics to be held without fans after new COVID-19 state of emergency declared". usatoday.com. Retrieved 8 July 2021.

[4] "France seal double in emphatic fashion". ihf.info. 8 August 2021.

[5] "Norway steamrolls Sweden to claim bronze in women's handball". nbcolympics.com. 8 August 2021.

[6] "Handball Competition Schedule". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 18 July 2020.

[7] "Draw details for Tokyo 2020 Handball Tournaments known". ihf.info. Retrieved 26 March 2021.

[8] "Results: Tokyo 2020 draws". ihf.info. Retrieved 1 April 2021.

[9] "Draw and seeding information: Tokyo 2020 Women's Handball Tournament". ihf.info. Retrieved 21 March 2021.

[10] "IHF announces referees for Tokyo 2020". ihf.info. 21 April 2021.

[11] "Tokyo 2020 preliminary round clashes revealed". ihf.info. Retrieved 1 April 2021.

[12] "Tokyo 2020 Handball Tournaments – Match schedule confirmed". ihf.info. Retrieved 10 May 2021.

[16] "Tournament Summary" (PDF). olympics.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.

[17] "Tokyo 2020 Women's All-Star Team". ihf.info. 8 August 2021.

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