Handball at the 1984 Summer Olympics

The Soviet-led boycott hit handball quite hard. Since the sport’s reintroduction in 1972, all 15 medals in the sport had been won by teams from Eastern Europe, and most of those wouldn’t compete in Los Angeles. In the men’s game, five of the qualified teams stayed home, while three squads had to be substituted in the women’s tournament. This left things open for Yugoslavia, which hadn’t joined the boycott and went home with two gold medals.