The women’s final we all spoke about is set in stone as Norway beat Denmark 25:21 to book a date with hosts France on Saturday afternoon.
It was a semi-final with the weight of history very much to the fore. In Denmark’s women’s first Olympic campaign in 12 years, they had an opportunity to return to a stage they dominated for three consecutive games, the gold medal match.
Between 1996 and 2004, they won three golds on the bounce, before their men’s team were even considered contenders. The landscape of handball has changed vastly since then but this was a chance for the women to return to the pinnacle of the sport. To do it, all they needed to do was beat Norway.
The Norwegians had their own history to play for. The two-time champions had been resigned to bronze at the two previous games and this was the last chance of glory for their Queen Stine.
Rock-solid defence
Norway started the brighter of the two and opened up a 4:1 lead after 10 minutes but we know Denmark aren’t ones for panicking at this tournament. They brought themselves back level just three minutes later and drew two suspensions from Henny Reistad, putting the best player in the world in very early foul trouble.
After a relatively timid opening 20 minutes, the game began to open up at the attacks began to take more risks and both teams pushed their counter-attack game hard.
Nevertheless, we could only hope that this game was a slow burner and hope it would truly light up in the second period. Norway took control in the final minutes of the half and led 11:8, thanks to a low-key brilliant performance by Katrine Lunde (8 saves at 50%) and Kari Brattset Dale’s dominance on the line with 4 goals.
Both defences continued to dominate at the start of the second act but the big difference was Norway’s transition attack delivering the easy goals while they once again restricted the Danes to one goal in the first 10 minutes, extending their lead to 15:9.
Too little, too late
Jesper Jensen used his final time out in the 44th minute, so early for a final throw of the dice but desperate times call for desperate measures. But it looked like nothing was going to get them close to a Norway side too switched on in defence and too dangerous all round in attack, as displayed by 11 of their 12 court players getting on the scoresheet.
There was one last push from Denmark which got them back within three goals but it was too little, too late as their friends to the north knew how to kill time and close out the match.
It was far from a classic performance in attack for Norwegians but it didn’t matter with their defensive display. It may well matter against France on Saturday but they’re in the final, a dream final between the hosts and their fierce rivals, marking the perfect end to the Oftedal era.