Handball at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Handball at the 1972 Summer Olympics the second appearance of the sport at the Olympics, returning to the Olympic program after a 36-year absence. It was contested by sixteen teams.

The teams were split into four groups of four teams each. Each team played every other team in its group.

The lowest team in group A played the lowest in group B while the lowest in groups C and D played each other. The winners of those games played each other for 13th and 14th places, while the losers played each other for 15th and 16th.

The third-ranked teams in groups A and B also played each, as did those in groups C and D. Again, the winners of those games played each other, this time for 9th and 10th places. The losers played for 11th and 12th places.

The top two teams in each group advanced to the main round. Those from groups A and B became group I while those from groups C and D became group II. Another round-robin was played within those groups, with the results from the preliminary round carrying over.

The fourth-ranked teams in each of the two main round groups played each other for 7th and 8th place. The third-ranked teams played against each other for 5th and 6th place. The second-ranked teams played for the bronze medal and 4th place. The top teams in group I and group II played each other for the gold and silver medals.

Medallists

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Yugoslavia (YUG) Abaz Arslanagić Petar Fajfrić Hrvoje Horvat Milorad Karalić Đorđe Lavrnić Milan Lazarević Zdravko Miljak Slobodan Mišković Branislav Pokrajac Nebojša Popović Miroslav Pribanić Albin Vidović Zoran Živković Zdenko Zorko	Czechoslovakia (TCH) Ladislav Beneš František Brůna Vladimír Haber Vladimír Jarý Jiří Kavan Arnošt Klimčík Jaroslav Konečný František Králík Jindřich Krepindl Vincent Lafko Andrej Lukošík Pavel Mikeš Petr Pospíšil Ivan Satrapa Zdeněk Škára Jaroslav Škarvan	Romania (ROU) Ştefan Birtalan Adrian Cosma Marin Dan Alexandru Dincă Cristian Gaţu Gheorghe Gruia Roland Gunesch Gabriel Kicsid Ghiţă Licu Cornel Penu Valentin Samungi Simion Schöbel Werner Stöckl Constantin Tudosie Radu Voina

Results

Preliminary round

Group A

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	Sweden	3	1	2	0	40	34	4		X	11:11	13:13	16:10
2.	Soviet Union	3	1	2	0	40	34	4		11:11	X	17:11	12:12
3.	Poland	3	1	1	1	35	38	3		13:13	11:17	X	11:8
4.	Denmark	3	0	1	2	30	39	1		10:16	12:12	8:11	X

• Denmark tied Soviet Union, 12-12
• Sweden tied Poland, 13-13
• Poland def. Denmark, 11-8
• Sweden tied Soviet Union, 11-11
• Sweden def. Denmark, 16-10
• Soviet Union def. Poland, 17-11

Group B

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	East Germany	3	3	0	0	51	32	6		X	14:12	16:11	21:9
2.	Czechoslovakia	3	1	1	1	56	40	3		12:14	X	19:19	25:7
3.	Iceland	3	1	1	1	57	51	3		11:16	19:19	X	27:16
4.	Tunisia	3	0	0	3	32	73	0		9:21	7:25	16:27	X

• East Germany def. Iceland, 16-11
• Czechoslovakia def. Tunisia, 25-7
• East Germany def. Tunisia, 21-9
• Czechoslovakia tied Iceland, 19-19
• East Germany def. Czechoslovakia, 14-12
• Iceland def. Tunisia, 27-16

Group C

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	Romania	3	3	0	0	46	37	6		X	13:11	18:14	15:12
2.	West Germany	3	1	1	1	39	38	3		11:13	X	15:15	13:10
3.	Norway	3	1	1	1	48	50	3		14:18	15:15	X	19:17
4.	Spain	3	0	0	3	39	47	0		12:15	10:13	17:19	X

• Romania def. Norway, 18-14
• West Germany def. Spain, 13-10
• Romania def. Spain, 15-12
• West Germany tied Norway, 15-15
• Romania def. West Germany, 13-11
• Norway def. Spain, 19-17

Group D

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	Yugoslavia	3	3	0	0	63	45	6		X	18:16	20:14	25:15
2.	Hungary	3	2	0	1	64	45	4		16:18	X	20:12	28:15
3.	Japan	3	1	0	2	46	56	2		14:20	12:20	X	20:16
4.	United States	3	0	0	3	46	73	0		15:25	15:28	16:20	X

• Yugoslavia def. Japan, 20-14
• Hungary def. United States, 28-15
• Yugoslavia def. United States, 25-15
• Hungary def. Japan, 20-12
• Yugoslavia def. Hungary, 18-16
• Japan def. United States, 20-16

Main round

Group I

East Germany's win over Czechoslovakia carried over to this round, as did the tie between Sweden and the Soviet Union

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	Czechoslovakia	3	2	0	1	42	38	4		X	12:14	15:12	15:12
2.	East Germany	3	2	0	1	36	34	4		14:12	X	8:11	14:11
3.	Soviet Union	3	1	1	1	34	34	3		12:15	11:8	X	11:11
4.	Sweden	3	0	1	2	34	40	1		12:15	11:14	11:11	X

• Czechoslovakia def. Sweden, 15-12
• Soviet Union def. East Germany, 11-8
• East Germany def. Sweden, 14-11
• Czechoslovakia def. Soviet Union, 15-12

Group II

Romania's victory over West Germany and Yugoslavia's over Hungary were part of the results of this round.

Rank	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
1.	Yugoslavia	3	3	0	0	56	44	6		X	14:13	24:15	18:16
2.	Romania	3	2	0	1	46	39	4		13:14	X	13:11	20:14
3.	West Germany	3	1	0	2	43	51	2		15:24	11:13	X	17:14
4.	Hungary	3	0	0	3	44	55	0		16:18	14:20	14:17	X

• Romania def. Hungary, 20-14
• Yugoslavia def. West Germany, 24-15
• Yugoslavia def. Romania, 14-13
• West Germany def. Hungary, 17-14

Participating nations

Each country was allowed to enter a team of 16 players and they all were eligible for participation. Japan entered only a squad of twelve.

A total of 242(*) handball players from 16 nations competed at the Munich Games:

•  Czechoslovakia (16)
•  Denmark (16)
•  East Germany (16)
•  West Germany (16)
•  Hungary (15)
•  Iceland (15)
•  Japan (12)
•  Norway (16)
•  Poland (15)
•  Romania (15)
•  Soviet Union (15)
•  Spain (15)
•  Sweden (16)
•  Tunisia (15)
•  United States (15)
•  Yugoslavia (14)

(*) NOTE: There are only players counted, which participated in one game at least.

Not all reserve players are known.

Summary

Place	Nation
1	Yugoslavia (YUG)
	Coach: Vlado Štencl Abaz Arslanagić (Borac Banja Luka) Petar Fajfrić (Crvenka) Hrvoje Horvat (Partizan Bjelovar) Milorad Karalić (Borac Banja Luka) Đorđe Lavrnić (Krivaja Zavidovići) Milan Lazarević (Crvena zvezda Beograd) Zdravko Miljak (Medveščak Zagreb) Slobodan Mišković (Crvenka) Branislav Pokrajac (Dinamo Pančevo) Nebojša Popović (Borac Banja Luka) Miroslav Pribanić (Partizan Bjelovar) Albin Vidović (BHSE) Zoran Živković (FAP Priboj na Limu) Zdenko Zorko (Zagreb) reserve players Čedomir Bugarski Dobrivoje Selec
2	Czechoslovakia (TCH)
	Ladislav Beneš František Brůna Vladimír Haber Vladimír Jarý Jiří Kavan Arnošt Klimčík Jaroslav Konečný František Králík Jindřich Krepindl Vincent Lafko Andrej Lukošík Pavel Mikeš Petr Pospíšil Ivan Satrapa Zdeněk Škára Jaroslav Škarvan
3	Romania (ROU)
	Ştefan Birtalan Adrian Cosma Marin Dan Alexandru Dincă Cristian Gaţu Gheorghe Gruia Roland Gunesch Gabriel Kicsid Ghiţă Licu Cornel Penu Valentin Samungi Simion Schöbel Werner Stöckl Constantin Tudosie Radu Voina
4	East Germany (GDR) Wolfgang Böhme Reiner Frieske Reiner Ganschow Jürgen Hildebrand Horst Jankhöfer Wolfgang Lakenmacher Klaus Langhoff Peter Larisch Peter Randt Udo Röhrig Josef Rose Siegfried Voigt Klaus Weiß Rainer Würdig Rainer Zimmermann Harry Zörnack
5	Soviet Union (URS) Valeri Gassy Vasily Ilyin Mykhaylo Ishchenko Yury Klimov Valentin Kulev Yuriy Lahutyn Mikhail Luzenko Vladimir Maksimov Albert Oganezov Aleksandr Panov Oleksandr Rezanov Nikolai Semenov Anatoli Shevchenko Ivan Usaty Jānis Vilsons
6	West Germany (FRG) Herwig Ahrendsen Hans-Jürgen Bode Wolfgang Braun Peter Bucher Jochen Feldhoff Diethard Finkelmann Josef Karrer Klaus Kater Klaus Lange Herbert Lübking Heiner Möller Hans-Peter Neuhaus Uwe Rathjen Herbert Rogge Herbert Wehnert Klaus Westebbe
7	Sweden (SWE) Björn Andersson Bo Andersson Dan Eriksson Lennart Eriksson Johan Fischerström Göran Hård af Segerstad Bengt Johansson Benny Johansson Jan Jonsson Lars Karlsson Michael Koch Olle Olsson Sten Olsson Thomas Persson Bertil Söderberg Frank Ström
8	Hungary (HUN) János Adorján Béla Bartalos János Csík László Harka József Horváth Sándor Kaló István Marosi Lajos Simó János Stiller István Szabó László Szabó Sándor Takács István Varga (BHSE) Károly Vass (Elektromos SE) Sándor Vass (Elektromos SE) Gyula Huth
9	Norway (NOR) Coach: Thor Nohr Per Ankre Arnulf Bæk Pål Bye Pål Cappelen Carl Graff-Wang Inge Hansen Torstein Hansen Roger Hverven Ulf Magnussen Jan Økseter Sten Osther Jon Reinertsen Geir Røse Per Søderstrøm Harald Tyrdal Finn Urdal
10	Poland (POL) Zdzisław Antczak Zbigniew Dybol Franciszek Gąsior Jan Gmyrek Bogdan Kowalczyk Zygfryd Kuchta Andrzej Lech Jerzy Melcer Helmut Pniociński Henryk Rozmiarek Andrzej Sokołowski Engelbert Szolc Andrzej Szymczak Włodzimierz Wachowicz Robert Zawada
11	Japan (JPN) Shuji Arinaga Katsuhiko Chikamori Kiyotaka Hayakawa Hiroshi Honda Masayuki Hyokai Nobuyuki Iida Minoru Kino Takezo Nakai Toshio Niimi Kiyoshi Noda Kenichi Sasaki Toshihiko Shimosato
12	Iceland (ISL) Axel Axelsson Ólafur Benediktsson Björgvin Björgvinsson Hjalti Einarsson Sigurður Einarsson Birgir Finnbogason Stefán Gunnarsson Geir Hallsteinsson Ólafur Jónsson Stefán Jónsson Jón Magnússon Ágúst Ögmundsson Sigurbergur Sigsteinsson Viðar Símonarson Gunnsteinn Skúlason Gísli Blöndal
13	Denmark (DEN) Arne Andersen Keld Andersen Jørgen Frandsen Claus From Flemming Hansen Jørgen Heidemann Søren Jensen Bent Jørgensen Kay Jørgensen Flemming Lauritzen Svend Lund Tom Lund Thor Munkager Vagn Nielsen Karsten Sørensen Jørgen Vodsgaard
14	United States (USA) Coach: Peter Buehning Richard Abrahamson Fletcher Abram Roger Baker Dennis Berkholtz Larry Caton Vincent DiCalogero Elmer Edes Thomas Hardiman Rudolph Matthews Sandor Rivnyak James Rogers Richard Schlesinger Kevin Serrapede Robert Sparks Joel Voelkert Harry Winkler
15	Spain (ESP) Antonio Andreu Miguel Ángel Cascallana Fernando de Andrés Javier García Jesús Guerrero Juan Miguel Igartua Santos Labaca Francisco López Juan Antonio Medina Juan Morera Vicente Ortega José Perramón José Rochel José Manuel Taure José Villamarín
16	Tunisia (TUN) Ahmed Bel Hadj Raouf Ben Samir Moncef Besbès Taoufik Djemail Aleya Hamrouni Mouir Jelili Mohamed Jeljeli Mohamed Khalladi Mohamed Klai Faouzi Ksouri Moncef Oueslati Faouzi Sebabti Amor Sghaier Abdelaziz Zaibi Ridha Zitoun

References

• International Olympic Committee results database