The women’s Olympic tournament gets underway on Thursday morning in Paris and there is a lot to get excited about.
Before we jump ahead and start giving medals away, let’s bathe in the overwhelming amount of matches, six back-to-back, each day and think about some things to keep an eye on in the days to come.
Non-European teams fight for the right to party
Only three teams outside of the European bubble have made it this time around. A fact I lamented at the time of the qualification tournaments and it holds true that the number of teams and their medal chances is a sad reflection on the worldwide depth of the sport at the moment.
Angola and South Korea set themselves up to peak at the Olympics and with a smattering of European experience among the home-grown squads, both teams have proven their ability to give any team a problem. I’d be surprised if neither manage to pull off an upset win.
Brazil are a different story. It wasn’t so long ago that we were lamenting the fall of the women’s national team, with no natural succession visible. But the latest wave of players to come to Europe and shine, Bruna de Paula in particular, give us reason to hope. They came within a whisker of reaching the World Championship Quarter-finals and they will back themselves to knock-off one of the European sides in Group B.
France’s slow starters
France’s women are notoriously slow starters at major championships, not that it seems to hurt them in the long run. Last December’s run to glory at the World Championship saw them scrape past Angola by a single goal in their opening game, while they needed a win over Brazil in the final group game in Tokyo to even reach the knockout rounds, where they stormed to gold.
France’s preliminary round schedule is front-loaded with Thursday’s opener vs Hungary, followed by tough tests against Netherlands and Brazil, a true test of whether their hardcore preparation camp with/against Norway has fine-tuned the squad in time.
Ana Gros and the gang
Slovenia have finally made it to the big show. Following years of trying and failing to break into the business end of major tournaments, they seemed destined to be left as an also-ran capable of beating big teams on their day.
But a strong showing at a home EHF EURO in 2022 paved the way towards Olympic qualification, an opportunity Ana Gros and co. were not going to let slip. Gros achieved one dream by winning the Champions League in June and you can be certain she won’t let the Olympic dream go without a fight.
Led by the wily and very able Dragan Adzic as coach and a solid all-round squad, this Slovenia side will be well worth a watch.
Jostling for position
For all the uncertainty that any major tournament holds in store, particularly one with just 12 teams, I think most of us feel confident that France and Norway are the frontrunners.
Behind them is a plethora of genuine medal contenders, who will all be looking to establish themselves as the best of the rest in the preliminary round and ensure the path of least resistance to the semi-finals.
Matchups such as Netherlands vs Hungary, Brazil vs Spain, Denmark vs Sweden and Germany vs Slovenia will help us establish a pecking order and will have an early knockout vibe.