Handball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

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]

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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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 Kristin Kloster Aasen, Norway; IOC Member, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Anna Rapp, Sweden; IHF Treasurer.

Schedule

The schedule was as follows.^[6]

Legend

G

Group stage

¼

Quarter-finals

½

Semi-finals

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

Main article: Handball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – 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

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

Main article: Handball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's team 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:

1. 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:

1. Sweden 36–24 ROC
2. 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 Carin Strömberg 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 Jessica Ryde 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 Anna Sedoykina (GK) Polina Kuznetsova Polina Gorshkova Daria Dmitrieva (c) Anna Sen Anna Vyakhireva Polina Vedekhina Vladlena Bobrovnikova Kseniya Makeyeva Elena Mikhaylichenko Olga Fomina Ekaterina Ilina Yulia Managarova Antonina Skorobogatchenko Victoriya Kalinina (GK) Head coach: Alexey Alekseev	Norway Henny Reistad Veronica Kristiansen Marit Malm Frafjord Stine Skogrand Nora Mørk Stine Bredal Oftedal (c) 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

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.
13. "Tournament Summary" (PDF). olympics.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
14. "Tokyo 2020 Women's All-Star Team". ihf.info. 8 August 2021.