Norway are Olympic champions in women’s handball for the third time, claiming their first gold since 2012 thanks to a second-half masterclass to beat France 29:21 in Lille.
Since the last Olympics, France and Norway had met in three major finals, but never had they met in the final of an Olympics. It was the dream matchup for the ultimate occasion.
France with seven wins from seven, including their extra-time win over Sweden to get here, Norway with a perfect six wins after their opening-round loss to the same opponent.
Neither side were perfect en route to this game and that didn’t matter, there would be no room for perfection this afternoon, only doing enough to win gold.
Disruption
The hosts were off to a flyer. Keen to not allow a similar pattern of play to their semi-final, they raced into an early 4:1 lead, a great boost for an already hyped crowd but they knew that lead would be short-lived.
Both sides knew how to disrupt each other’s flow in attack and that coupled with the high-speed approach from both led to a plethora of early turnovers.
There was no shortage of scoring opportunities, however, and while both sides traded goals, a key difference was a pair of penalties missed by Norway. Nora Mørk and Stine Skogrand both crashing their attempts against the crossbar.
Stine’s swansong
Stine Oftedal had her mind made up a while ago that these games would mark the end of her playing career, deciding that she would go out at the top of her powers and with one last shot of Olympic glory.
She displayed those powers in abundance in the first half with four goals and four assists, combining beautifully with Henny Reistad and rounded off a rapid end to the first half with a peach from long-range to give her side a 15:13 advantage to take into the dressing room.
Having found themselves in a similar situation just two days ago, France were unlikely to panic at the beginning of the second period but their start didn’t help matters as they simply couldn’t find a way past the defence and Katrine Lunde – just one goal in the opening 10 minutes spelled disaster.
The Norwegians took full advantage and opened a six-goal lead with Kari Brattset Dale the target of choice on the line, scoring a perfect four from four in 12 minutes and making life miserable for France at both ends of the court.
No miracles today
After an early timeout, France went all out on defence, employing a 4:2 formation to mess with their opponent’s back court rhythm. It worked momentarily but Norway have seen these moves before and it didn’t take long for Reistad to skip past the defence three times in quick succession.
Opportunities in front of goal were rare for the home side and when they came, they weren’t clinical enough. 0 from 4 for Nze Minko, 4 from 9 for Horacek and 5 from 10 for Kanor simply wouldn’t get the job done today.
Seven goals down with nine minutes left to play, France needed nothing short of a Kielce-like miracle now. For a few minutes, it looked like it might be on as the deficit was cut to four but Norway were never going to let it slip from here.
Potential fulfilled
France’s women did what their men could not, reach a home Olympic final. Their exploits have won over a whole new batch of fans across the country and beyond but they will have to settle for silver on this occasion, beaten by a better team on the day.
Norway’s stars led by example today with Reistad producing 8 goals and 6 assists, Oftedal with 5 goals and 8 assists, Brattset with 6 goals and Lunde on a 39% save rate.
The 27,000-capacity crowd rose to its feet at the final buzzer, in appreciation of France’s brave efforts and acceptance of the deserving champions.
Eight years of hurt came to an end for a Norway squad who fulfilled their potential today, winning a third Olympic gold medal, the joint-most alongside Denmark. If this is the last time we see the likes of Veronica Kristiansen, Nora Mørk, Katrine Lunde, Camilla Herrem and Stine Oftedal in Olympic action, then what a pleasure it’s been to see this generation of stars strive for gold and finally achieve it together.