Handball Day 16 Review: France wins first Olympic Handball gold

(BEIJING, August 24) -- France dominated the final to win their first Olympic gold medal in Men's Handball, with Iceland taking silver and Spain, bronze, on the last day of the Men's competition at the National Indoor Stadium on Sunday, August 24.

Gold medal match:

France vs. Iceland: 28-23

The game was even for the first 13 minutes, but France scored five goals in a row to take control of the game from then on. France successfully blocked Iceland's center-back Snorri Steinn Gudjonsson and pivot Robert Gunnarsson in attack. In front of the goal Thierry Omeyer (FRA) made sure every second shot got stopped. France also ruled in attack, led by star player Nikola Karabatic, who scored on eight of nine attempts in the match. France won their first Olympic gold medal in Men's Handball, while Iceland won their first Olympic silver medal in Men's Handball.

Bronze medal match:

Spain vs. Croatia: 35-29

The first half was close as Spain tightened their defense, with left-wing Juan Garcia and left-back Iker Romero giving an impressive performance in front of the Croatian goal. Garcia netted seven goals and Romero scored five. The second half saw Spain gradually advancing, and when pivot Carlos Prieto tricked three balls into the Croatian net to make the score 32-27, the Croatians gave up. Spain won the bronze medal, while Croatia finished fourth in the competition.

Placement 5-6 match:

Poland vs. Russia: 29-28

Russia had the upper hand from the start and advanced by scoring six goals in a row early on. The second half saw Poland trailing Russia for more than 20 minutes, always one goal behind. Solid right-wing Mariusz Jurasik, Poland's top scorer with his six goals on Sunday, leveled the match 10 minutes before full time before his teammates Marcin Lijewski, Bartlomiej Jaszka and Grzegorz Tkaczyk gave great performances, turning the game around and winning. Poland took fifth place in the competition, while Russia finished sixth.

Placement 7-8 match:

Denmark vs. the Republic of Korea: 37-26

The match started slowly but both teams accelerated into the game towards half time. Denmark's Lars Roslyng Christiansen succeeded in all three of his fast breaks, and the ROK's Ko Kyung-soo made four fast breaks and scored in all of them. Ko was the top scorer for his team, netting 10 goals. The top scorer for Denmark was 20-year-old Mikkel Hansen, with eight goals, seven of them sharp long shots from 9m. Denmark took seventh place in the competition, while the Republic of Korea finished eighth.

The final ranking of teams in the Men's Handball tournament in Beijing 2008 Olympics follows:

1. France

2. Iceland

3. Spain

4. Croatia

5. Poland

6. Russia

7. Denmark

8. The Republic of Korea

9. Germany

10. Egypt

11. Brazil

12. China