Handball at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's handball tournament at the 2012 Olympic Games in London was held from 28 July to 11 August. The preliminaries and quarter-finals were held at the Copper Box and the semi-finals and final took place at the Basketball Arena.

Women's handball at the Games of the XXX Olympiad

Tournament details
Host country	Great Britain
Venue(s)	Basketball Arena Copper Box Arena
Dates	28 July – 11 August 2012
Teams	12 (from 4 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	Norway (2nd title)
Runner-up	Montenegro
Third place	Spain
Fourth place	South Korea
Tournament statistics
Matches played	38
Goals scored	1,908 (50.21 per match)
Attendance	185,189 (4,873 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Katarina Bulatović (53 goals)
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Twelve nations were represented in the tournament. The four best teams from each group advanced to a knockout round, while the 5th and 6th teams in each group were classified 9th–12th by the results of their group matches. Unlike in previous Olympics, there was no placement matches involving the losing teams of the quarterfinals.

Norway won the tournament and gold medal, beating Montenegro in the final. Montenegro's silver was the first Olympic medal for the country as an independent nation, and the country's only medal at the 2012 Games. Spain won the bronze medal.

Qualification

Main article: Handball at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's qualification

	Date	Venue	Vacancies	Qualified
Host nation			1	Great Britain
2010 European Championship	7–19 December 2010	Denmark  Norway	1	Sweden†
Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament 2011	12–21 October 2011	China	1	South Korea
2011 Pan American Games	15–23 October 2011	Mexico	1	Brazil
2011 World Championship	2–18 December 2011	Brazil	1	Norway
2012 African Championship	11–20 January 2012	Morocco	1	Angola
2012 IHF Qualification Tournament #1	25–27 May 2012	France	2	Montenegro  France
2012 IHF Qualification Tournament #2	25–27 May 2012	Spain	2	Spain  Croatia
2012 IHF Qualification Tournament #3	25–27 May 2012	Denmark	2	Russia  Denmark
Total			12

^† Sweden qualified as 2010 European Championship runner up because Norway qualified as the 2011 World Champion.

Seeding

Before the draw the IHF seeded the teams in six pots. The draw for the groups was held on 30 May 2012.^[1]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Norway	Spain	Denmark	France	Sweden	Angola
Montenegro	Russia	Croatia	Great Britain	Brazil	South Korea

Rosters

Main article: Handball at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's team rosters

Group stage

Group A

A player down during a match between Angola and Great Britain.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
Brazil	5	4	0	1	137	122	+15	8	Quarter-finals
Croatia	5	4	0	1	145	115	+30	8
Russia	5	3	1	1	151	125	+26	7
Montenegro	5	2	1	2	137	123	+14	5
Angola	5	1	0	4	132	142	−10	2
Great Britain	5	0	0	5	91	166	−75	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

28 July 2012 09:30	Russia	30 – 27	Angola	Copper Box, London Attendance: 3,604[2] Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
	Postnova 5	(16–11)	Guialo 5
	3× 3×	Report	3× 4×

---

28 July 2012 14:30	Croatia	23 – 24	Brazil	Copper Box, London Attendance: 3,942[3] Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Jovetić 6	(10–9)	do Nascimento, Amorim 5
	3× 4×	Report	3× 6× 1×

---

28 July 2012 19:30	Montenegro	31 – 19	Great Britain	Copper Box, London Attendance: 3,941[4] Referees: Duţă, Florescu (ROU)
	A. Bulatović 5	(18–12)	Gerbron 6
	3× 4×	Report	3× 5×

---

30 July 2012 09:30	Angola	23 – 28	Croatia	Copper Box, London Attendance: 3,892[5] Referees: Al-Nuaimi, Omar (UAE)
	Guialo, M. Kiala 5	(11–13)	Zebić 9
	2× 4×	Report	3× 2×

---

30 July 2012 14:30	Great Britain	16 – 37	Russia	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,596[6] Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Byl 5	(8–17)	Turey, Chernoivanenko 5
	3× 1×	Report	2× 4×

---

30 July 2012 19:30	Brazil	27 – 25	Montenegro	Copper Box, London Attendance: 3,974[7] Referees: Olesen, Pedersen (DEN)
	do Nascimento 8	(15–16)	K. Bulatović 5
	3× 4× 1×	Report	3× 7× 1×

---

1 August 2012 11:15	Montenegro	30 – 25	Angola	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,354[8] Referees: Abdulla, Bamutref (QAT)
	Popović, K. Bulatović 6	(13–14)	Carlos 7
	3× 3×	Report	3× 3×

---

1 August 2012 16:15	Great Britain	17 – 30	Brazil	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,622[9] Referees: Coulibaly, Diabate (CIV)
	Byl, Gerbron 5	(8–17)	Rodrigues 7
	2× 3×	Report	3× 3×

---

1 August 2012 21:15	Russia	28 – 30	Croatia	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,098[10] Referees: Marina, Minore (ARG)
	Turey 6	(15–15)	Penezić 10
	3× 5×	Report	3× 6×

---

3 August 2012 09:30	Angola	31 – 25	Great Britain	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,081[11] Referees: Florescu, Duţă (ROU)
	Almeida 8	(14–10)	Gerbron 9
	2× 3×	Report	3× 1×

---

3 August 2012 14:30	Croatia	27 – 26	Montenegro	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,541[12] Referees: Lopez, Sabroso (ESP)
	Penezić 10	(12–12)	Popović 10
	3× 5×	Report	2× 4×

---

3 August 2012 16:15	Russia	31 – 27	Brazil	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,741[13] Referees: Lazaar, Reveret (FRA)
	Turey 7	(15–14)	Nascimento 9
	3× 7×	Report	2× 2×

---

5 August 2012 11:15	Brazil	29 – 26	Angola	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,585[14] Referees: Bartlett, Stokes (GBR)
	three players 5	(14–9)	Kiala 6
	3× 1×	Report	3× 3×

---

5 August 2012 14:30	Montenegro	25 – 25	Russia	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,444[15] Referees: Abrahamsen, Kristiansen (NOR)
	Bulatović 7	(15–16)	three players 4
	2× 6×	Report	2× 8× 1×

---

5 August 2012 16:15	Croatia	37 – 14	Great Britain	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,792[16] Referees: Marina, Minore (ARG)
	three players 5	(17–6)	Fairbrother 3
	3× 3×	Report	3× 4×

Group B

South Korea v France

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
France	5	4	1	0	125	103	+22	9	Quarter-finals
South Korea	5	3	1	1	136	130	+6	7
Spain	5	3	1	1	119	114	+5	7
Norway	5	2	1	2	118	120	−2	5
Denmark	5	1	0	4	113	121	−8	2
Sweden	5	0	0	5	108	131	−23	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

28 July 2012 11:15	Spain	27 – 31	South Korea	Copper Box, London Attendance: 3,900[17] Referees: Gubica, Milošević (CRO)
	Martín 7	(12–16)	Ryu Eun-hee 9
	3× 2×	Report	3× 3×

---

28 July 2012 16:15	Denmark	21 – 18	Sweden	Copper Box, London Attendance: 3,942[18] Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
	Skov 6	(8–10)	Gulldén 5
	3× 4×	Report	4× 3×

---

28 July 2012 21:15	Norway	23 – 24	France	Copper Box, London Attendance: 3,968[19] Referees: Krstić, Ljubić (SLO)
	Alstad 5	(12–17)	Baudouin, Signaté 5
	3× 2×	Report	4× 5× 1×

---

30 July 2012 11:15	South Korea	25 – 24	Denmark	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,393[20] Referees: Duţă, Florescu (ROU)
	Jo Hyo-bi 5	(11–10)	Larsen 7
	3× 1×	Report	3× 2×

---

30 July 2012 16:15	France	18 – 18	Spain	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,671[21] Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Dembélé 6	(7–10)	Mangué 6
	3× 6× 1×	Report	4× 4×

---

30 July 2012 21:15	Sweden	21 – 24	Norway	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,459[22] Referees: Coulibaly, Diabate (CIV)
	Torstenson 6	(9–14)	Koren, Sulland 5
	3× 3×	Report	3× 3×

---

1 August 2012 09:30	Norway	27 – 27	South Korea	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,178[23] Referees: Nachevski, Nikolov (MKD)
	Sulland 11	(13–15)	three players 6
	3×	Report	2× 3×

---

1 August 2012 14:30	France	29 – 17	Sweden	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,638[24] Referees: Gubica, Milošević (CRO)
	three players 4	(16–11)	Ahlm 6
	3× 2×	Report	3× 1×

---

1 August 2012 19:30	Spain	24 – 21	Denmark	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,488[25] Referees: Geipel, Helbig (GER)
	Mangué 7	(14–9)	Nørgaard 7
	3× 3× 1×	Report	3× 1×

---

3 August 2012 11:15	South Korea	21 – 24	France	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,568[26] Referees: Nikolić, Stojković (SRB)
	Sim Hae-in 6	(12–10)	Lacrabère 4
	2× 3×	Report	4× 2×

---

3 August 2012 19:30	Spain	25 – 24	Sweden	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,234[27] Referees: Al-Nuaimi, Omar (UAE)
	Mangué, Alberto 6	(11–10)	Fogelström 5
	3× 3×	Report	4× 2×

---

3 August 2012 21:15	Denmark	23 – 24	Norway	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,720[28] Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Nørgaard 9	(11–12)	Løke 6
	3× 2×	Report	3×

---

5 August 2012 09:30	Sweden	28 – 32	South Korea	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,180[29] Referees: Abdulla, Bamutref (QAT)
	Flognman 8	(13–16)	Ryu Eun-hee 10
	4× 4×	Report	3× 5×

---

5 August 2012 19:30	Norway	20 – 25	Spain	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,345[30] Referees: Krstić, Ljubić (SLO)
	Koren 6	(11–11)	Alonso 7
	3× 4×	Report	3× 4× 1×

---

5 August 2012 21:15	Denmark	24 – 30	France	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,616[31] Referees: Duţă, Florescu (ROU)
	Nørgaard 10	(10–17)	Nijtam 6
	3× 2×	Report	2× 1×

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Gold medal match

A1

Brazil

19

B4

Norway

21

B4

Norway

31

B2

South Korea

25

A3

Russia

23

B2

South Korea

24

B4

Norway

26

A4

Montenegro

23

A2

Croatia

22

B3

Spain

25

B3

Spain

26

Bronze medal match

A4

Montenegro

27

A4

Montenegro

23

B2

South Korea

29

B1

France

22

B3

Spain (ET)

31

Quarter-finals

7 August 2012 10:00	Brazil	19 – 21	Norway	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,549[32] Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	do Nascimento 5	(13–9)	Koren 5
	3× 3×	Report	2× 1×

---

7 August 2012 13:30	Spain	25 – 22	Croatia	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,553[33] Referees: Horáček, Novotný (CZE)
	Pinedo 7	(13–12)	Tatari 5
	3× 3×	Report	3× 6×

---

7 August 2012 17:00	Russia	23 – 24	South Korea	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,299[34] Referees: Lopéz, Sabroso (ESP)
	Postnova, Levina 5	(11–14)	Gwon Han-na 6
	4× 2×	Report	3× 5×

---

7 August 2012 20:30	France	22 – 23	Montenegro	Copper Box, London Attendance: 4,559[35] Referees: Olesen, Pedersen (DEN)
	Signaté 5	(13–13)	Popović, Bulatović 6
	3× 2×	Report	4× 3×

Semi-finals

9 August 2012 17:00	Norway	31 – 25	South Korea	Basketball Arena, London Attendance: 9,274[36] Referees: Gubica, Milošević (CRO)
	Løke 8	(18–15)	Gwon Han-na 7
	3× 2×	Report	3× 2×

---

9 August 2012 20:30	Spain	26 – 27	Montenegro	Basketball Arena, London Attendance: 9,087[37] Referees: Krstić, Ljubić (SLO)
	Alberto 6	(13–13)	Bulatović 9
	2× 1×	Report	3× 4×

Bronze medal match

11 August 2012 17:00	South Korea	29 – 31 (ET)	Spain	Basketball Arena, London Attendance: 9,622[38] Referees: Olesen, Pedersen (DEN)
	Gwon Han-na 7	(13–13)	Alberto, Fernández 5
	1× 2×	Report	2× 4×
	FT: 24–24 ET: 4–4, 1–3

Gold medal match

11 August 2012 20:30	Norway	26 – 23	Montenegro	Basketball Arena, London Attendance: 9,739[39] Referees: Bonaventura, Bonaventura (FRA)
	Sulland 10	(13–10)	Bulatović 10
	3× 3×	Report	3× 7× 1×

Rankings and statistics

Final ranking

Rank	Team	Points	GD
	Norway	11	+9
	Montenegro	9	+13
	Spain	11	+9
4	South Korea	9	–1
5	France	9	+21
6	Brazil [40]	8	+13
7	Croatia	8	+27
8	Russia	7	+25
9	Denmark	2	–8
10	Angola	2	–10
11	Sweden	0	–23
12	Great Britain	0	–75

All-star team

• Goalkeeper: Kari Aalvik Grimsbo
• Left wing: Jo Hyo-bi
• Left back: Bojana Popović
• Central back: Marta Mangué
• Right back: Katarina Bulatović
• Right wing: Alexandra do Nascimento
• Line player: Heidi Løke

Chosen by team officials and IHF experts: IHF.info

Top goalkeepers

Rank	Name	Team	%	Saves	Shots
1	Kari Aalvik Grimsbø	Norway	42%	67	161
2	Cléopatre Darleux	France	41%	18	44
3	Amandine Leynaud	France	38%	61	161
4	Silvia Navarro	Spain	37%	96	258
	Mayssa Pessoa	Brazil	37%	21	57
	Anna Sedoykina	Russia	37%	34	92
7	Ivana Jelčić	Croatia	35%	62	177
8	Sonja Barjaktarović	Montenegro	34%	55	161
	Ju Hui	South Korea	34%	99	292
10	Karin Mortensen	Denmark	33%	27	82

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Team	Goals	Shots	%
1	Katarina Bulatović	Montenegro	53	93	57%
2	Bojana Popović	Montenegro	46	77	60%
3	Ryu Eun-hee	South Korea	43	92	47%
4	Alexandra do Nascimento	Brazil	37	55	67%
5	Marta Mangué	Spain	34	67	51%
6	Nely Carla Alberto	Spain	33	58	57%
	Linn Jørum Sulland	Norway	33	66	50%
8	Jo Hyo-bi	South Korea	32	52	62%
	Ann Grete Nørgaard	Denmark	32	52	62%
10	Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren	Norway	31	39	79%
	Andrea Penezić	Croatia	31	55	56%
	Jovanka Radičević	Montenegro	31	51	61%

References

1. "Seeding list completed". IHF. 27 May 2012. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
2. "Russia – Angola" (PDF). IHF. 28 July 2012.
3. "Croatia – Brazil" (PDF). IHF. 28 July 2012.
4. "Montenegro – Great Britain" (PDF). IHF. 28 July 2012.
5. "Angola – Croatia" (PDF). IHF. 30 July 2012.
6. "Great Britain – Russia" (PDF). IHF. 30 July 2012.
7. "Brazil – Montenegro" (PDF). IHF. 30 July 2012.
8. "Montenegro – Great Britain" (PDF). IHF. 1 August 2012.
9. "Great Britain – Brazil" (PDF). IHF. 1 August 2012.
10. "Russia – Croatia" (PDF). IHF. 1 August 2012.
11. "Angola – Great Britain" (PDF). IHF. 3 August 2012.
12. "Croatia – Montenegro" (PDF). IHF. 3 August 2012.
13. "Russia – Brazil" (PDF). IHF. 3 August 2012.
14. "Brazil – Angola" (PDF). IHF. 5 August 2012.
15. "Montenegro – Russia" (PDF). IHF. 5 August 2012.
16. "Croatia – Great Britain" (PDF). IHF. 5 August 2012.
17. "Spain – South Korea" (PDF). IHF. 28 July 2012.
18. "Denmark – Sweden" (PDF). IHF. 28 July 2012.
19. "Norway – France" (PDF). IHF. 28 July 2012.
20. "South Korea – Denmark" (PDF). IHF. 30 July 2012.
21. "France – Spain" (PDF). IHF. 30 July 2012.
22. "Sweden – Norway" (PDF). IHF. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
23. "Norway – South Korea" (PDF). IHF. 1 August 2012.
24. "France – Sweden" (PDF). IHF. 1 August 2012.
25. "Spain – Denmark" (PDF). IHF. 1 August 2012.
26. "South Korea – France" (PDF). IHF. 3 August 2012.
27. "Spain – Sweden" (PDF). IHF. 3 August 2012.
28. "Denmark – Norway" (PDF). IHF. 3 August 2012.
29. "Sweden – South Korea" (PDF). IHF. 5 August 2012.
30. "Norway – Spain" (PDF). IHF. 5 August 2012.
31. "Denmark – France" (PDF). IHF. 5 August 2012.
32. "Brazil – Norway" (PDF). IHF. 7 August 2012.
33. "Spain – Croatia" (PDF). IHF. 7 August 2012.
34. "Russia – South Korea" (PDF). IHF. 7 August 2012.
35. "France – Montenegro" (PDF). IHF. 7 August 2012.
36. "Norway – South Korea" (PDF). IHF. 9 August 2012.
37. "Spain – Montenegro" (PDF). IHF. 9 August 2012.
38. "South Korea – Spain" (PDF). IHF. 11 August 2012.
39. "Norway – Montenegro" (PDF). IHF. 11 August 2012.
40. Brazil finish first in Group A by beating Croatia without see the goals difference between them

• "Handball Competition Schedule Event Details" (PDF). london2012.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.