Handball at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's tournament

1996 Men's Olympic handball tournament

Tournament details
Host country	United States
Dates	24 July - 4 August
Teams	12
Venue(s)	Georgia Dome Final Georgia World Congress Center
Final positions
Champions	Croatia
Runner-up	Sweden
Third place	Spain
Fourth place	France
Tournament statistics
Matches	38
Goals scored	1822 (47.95 per match)
Attendance	305,100 (8,029 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Patrik Cavar (CRO), 43 goals
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The men's handball tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics was contested by twelve teams divided in two groups, with the top two proceeding to the semifinals and the bottom four proceeding to placement matches. Each game was sold ou. The final had 35,000 spectators and the other games 7,300.

Preliminary round

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
Sweden	5	5	0	0	131	94	+37	10
Croatia	5	4	0	1	132	122	+10	8
Russia	5	3	0	2	137	106	+31	6
Switzerland	5	2	0	3	126	115	+11	4
United States	5	1	0	4	111	142	−31	2
Kuwait	5	0	0	5	100	158	−58	0

Results
Sweden		27–18	22–20	26–19	23–19	33–18
Croatia	18–27		25–24	23–22	35–27	31–22
Russia	20–22	24–25		30–23	31–16	32–20
Switzerland	19–26	22–23	23–30		29–20	33–16
United States	19–23	27–35	16–31	20–29		29–24
Kuwait	18–33	22–31	20–32	16–33	24–29

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
France	5	4	0	1	145	114	+31	8
Spain	5	4	0	1	114	97	+17	8
Egypt	5	3	0	2	113	103	+10	6
Germany	5	3	0	2	121	112	+9	6
Algeria	5	0	1	4	95	117	−22	1
Brazil	5	0	1	4	100	145	−45	1

Results
France		27–25	25–20	23–24	33–22	37–23
Spain	25–27		20–19	22–20	20–14	27–17
Egypt	20–25	19–20		24–22	19–16	31–20
Germany	24–23	20–22	22–24		25–23	30–20
Algeria	22–33	14–20	16–19	23–25		20–20
Brazil	23–37	17–27	20–31	20–30	20–20

Playoffs

	Semi-finals				Final
	Sweden	25
	Spain	20
					Sweden	26
					Croatia	27
	France	20
	Croatia	24
					Bronze medal match
					Spain	27
					France	25

Semifinals

August 2 ~16:00	Sweden	25–20	Spain	Georgia World Congress Center Attendance: 7,300 Referees: Brussel/van Dongen (NED)
	Thorsson 7	(11-12)	Guijosa 5

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August 2 ~20:30	France	20–24	Croatia	Georgia World Congress Center Attendance: 7,300 Referees: Hogsnes/Oeie (NOR)
	Stoecklin 8	(8-12)	Cavar 8

11th/12th classification

August 2 10:00	Kuwait	25–31	Brazil	Georgia World Congress Center Attendance: 7,300 Referees: Boehne/Bojsen (USA)
	al-Harbi, Sh Zadah 5	(13-16)	Nascimento 7

9th/10th classification

August 2 ~11:30	Algeria	26–27 (ET)	United States	Georgia World Congress Center Attendance: 7,300 Referees: al Houli/Alenezi (KUW)
	Saidi 6	(12-10)	Brown 7
	FT: 22-22 ET: 26-27

7th/8th classification

August 2 14:30	Switzerland	16–23	Germany	Georgia World Congress Center Attendance: 7,300 Referees: Elbrond/Lovquist (DEN)
	Scharer 6	(10-12)	Scheffler, Stephan 5

5th/6th classification

August 2 19:00	Egypt	26–29	Russia	Georgia World Congress Center Attendance: 7,300 Referees: Gallego Santos/Lamas Perez (ESP)
	el Attar 10	(11-15)	Gopin 6

Bronze medal match

August 4 15:00	Spain	27–25	France	Georgia World Congress Center Attendance: 7,300 Referees: Elbrond/Lovquist (DEN)
	Lozano, Esquer, Urdiales 5	(13-12)	Cordinier 7

Final

August 4 ~16:30	Sweden	26–27	Croatia	Georgia Dome Attendance: 35,000 Referees: Gallego Santos/Lamas Perez (ESP)
	Thorsson 8	(11-16)	Perkovac, Smajlagic, Jovic 6

Rankings and statistics

Final rankings 1  Croatia 2  Sweden 3  Spain 4  France 5  Russia 6  Egypt 7  Germany 8   Switzerland 9  United States 10  Algeria 11  Brazil 12  Kuwait	Top goalscorers Player Games Goals Attempts 1. Patrik Cavar (CRO) 6 43 60 2. Stéphane Stoecklin (FRA) 6 36 68 3. Frédéric Volle (FRA) 7 35 58 4. Marc Baumgartner (SUI) 6 35 71 5. Alberto Urdiales (ESP) 7 31 47 6. Irfan Smajlagic (CRO) 6 31 48 7. Valery Gopin (RUS) 6 30 42 7. Erik Hajas (SWE) 6 30 42 7. Pierre Thorsson (SWE) 6 30 42
All-star team Mats Olsson (SWE) Irfan Smajlagic (CRO) Magnus Andersson (SWE) Stéphane Stoecklin (FRA) Dmitri Torgovanov (RUS) Patrik Cavar (CRO) Frédéric Volle (FRA)

References

• Handball & Olympic Games 1936-2000, International Handball Federation, pp. 35–37
• Atlanta 1996: Handball at marcolympics.org