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| Event type

Handball, Men

Date14 – 29 August 2004
StatusOlympic
LocationKleisto Gipedo, Olympiako Syngrotima Ellenikou, Hellinikon / Kleisto Gymnastirio Falirou, Olympiako Syngrotima Papaliakis Zonis Falirou, Faliro
Participants179 from 12 countries
FormatRound-robin pools advance teams to classification matches.

The 12 men’s teams qualified for the 2004 Olympics as follows – Greece as the host nation; the top seven teams from the 2003 World Championships (Croatia, Germany, France, Spain, Russia, Hungary, Iceland); the top team from 2004 European Championships, not otherwise qualified (Slovenia, which finished second); Brazil as the 2003 Pan American Games Champion; and the winners of the 2003 Asian and African Olympic Qualifying Tournaments (South Korea and Egypt, respectively).

In the round-robin phase, World Championship medallists Croatia (Gorup A) and France (Group B) survived without defeat. Finalist Germany also made it into the quarter-finals, but had incurred losses against Hungary and France. The Sydney champions, Russia, had seen a poor start of their campaign, beating only tiny Slovenia and Iceland, narrowly making it into the next round. Pitted against the French in the quarter-finals, they were soon three points down. But the Russian team picked itself up in the second half, and two late goals opened up a two-goal difference that remained in place until the final whistle (26-24). The other quarter-finals went as expected with Hungary, Croatia and Germany completing the all-European semi-final line-up.

In the semi-finals, the Russians were defeated by the strong German defense, losing in a low-scoring 21-15 match. Croatia and Hungary kept it close, the World Champions making it into the final after 33-31. The final then came down to a re-match of the 2003 Worlds, and with the same outcome. The Germans didn’t make it easy for Croatia, leading 12-11 at half-time. The two nations remained neck-on-neck until the 55th minute, when Mirza Džomba and Nikša Kaleb opened up a two-goal lead that proved decisive. The Russians, meanwhile, took the bronze in a 28-26 win over Hungary.

PosNumberTeamNOC
1CroatiaCROGold
2GermanyGERSilver
3Russian FederationRUSBronze
4HungaryHUN
5FranceFRA
6GreeceGRE
7SpainESP
8Republic of KoreaKOR
9IcelandISL
10BrazilBRA
11SloveniaSLO
12EgyptEGY

Preliminary Round

Date14 – 22 August 2004

Group A

Date14 – 22 August 2004
FormatRound-robin pools.
PosTeamNOCWinsDrawsLossesPointsGoals
1CroatiaCRO50010146-129
2SpainESP4018154-137
3Republic of KoreaKOR2034148-148
4Russian FederationRUS2034145-145
5IcelandISL1042143-158
6SloveniaSLO1042130-149
MatchDate/TimeTeamNOCResultTeamNOC
Match #114 Aug 9:30SpainESP31 – 30Republic of KoreaKOR
Match #214 Aug 14:30Russian FederationRUS28 – 25SloveniaSLO
Match #314 Aug 19:30CroatiaCRO34 – 30IcelandISL
Match #416 Aug 9:30Republic of KoreaKOR35 – 32Russian FederationRUS
Match #516 Aug 11:30CroatiaCRO27 – 26SloveniaSLO
Match #616 Aug 14:30SpainESP31 – 23IcelandISL
Match #718 Aug 9:30CroatiaCRO29 – 26Republic of KoreaKOR
Match #818 Aug 11:30IcelandISL30 – 25SloveniaSLO
Match #918 Aug 19:30SpainESP29 – 26Russian FederationRUS
Match #1020 Aug 9:30Republic of KoreaKOR34 – 30IcelandISL
Match #1120 Aug 11:30SpainESP41 – 28SloveniaSLO
Match #1220 Aug 19:30CroatiaCRO26 – 25Russian FederationRUS
Match #1322 Aug 9:30SloveniaSLO26 – 23Republic of KoreaKOR
Match #1422 Aug 11:30CroatiaCRO30 – 22SpainESP
Match #1522 Aug 19:30Russian FederationRUS34 – 30IcelandISL

Group B

Date14 – 22 August 2004
FormatRound-robin pools.
PosTeamNOCWinsDrawsLossesPointsGoals
1FranceFRA50010135-108
2HungaryHUN4018132-124
3GermanyGER3026139-110
4GreeceGRE2034117-130
5BrazilBRA1042105-133
6EgyptEGY0050110-133
MatchDate/TimeTeamNOCResultTeamNOC
Match #114 Aug 11:30HungaryHUN33 – 28EgyptEGY
Match #214 Aug 16:30GermanyGER28 – 18GreeceGRE
Match #314 Aug 21:30FranceFRA31 – 17BrazilBRA
Match #416 Aug 16:30FranceFRA29 – 25GreeceGRE
Match #516 Aug 19:30HungaryHUN20 – 19BrazilBRA
Match #616 Aug 21:30GermanyGER26 – 14EgyptEGY
Match #718 Aug 14:30FranceFRA26 – 23HungaryHUN
Match #818 Aug 16:30GreeceGRE26 – 25EgyptEGY
Match #918 Aug 21:30GermanyGER34 – 21BrazilBRA
Match #1020 Aug 14:30GreeceGRE26 – 22BrazilBRA
Match #1120 Aug 16:30HungaryHUN30 – 29GermanyGER
Match #1220 Aug 21:30FranceFRA22 – 21EgyptEGY
Match #1322 Aug 14:30FranceFRA27 – 22GermanyGER
Match #1422 Aug 16:30HungaryHUN26 – 22GreeceGRE
Match #1522 Aug 21:30BrazilBRA26 – 22EgyptEGY

Quarter-Finals

Date24 August 2004
FormatSingle-elimination.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #124 Aug 14:30HungaryHUN30 – 25Republic of KoreaKOR
Match #224 Aug 16:30CroatiaCRO33 – 27GreeceGRE
Match #324 Aug 19:30GermanyGER32 – 30SpainESPAfter Extra Time and Penalty Shots
Match #424 Aug 22:05Russian FederationRUS26 – 24FranceFRA

Classification Round 5-8

Date24 August 2004
FormatClassification matches.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #124 Aug 9:30FranceFRA29 – 27SpainESP
Match #224 Aug 11:30GreeceGRE29 – 24Republic of KoreaKOR

Semi-Finals

Date27 August 2004
FormatSingle-elimination.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match #127 Aug 14:30CroatiaCRO33 – 31HungaryHUN
Match #227 Aug 16:30GermanyGER21 – 15Russian FederationRUS

Final Round

Date24 – 29 August 2004
FormatMedal round.
MatchDate/TimeCompetitorsNOCResultCompetitorsNOC
Match 1/229 Aug 16:45CroatiaCRO26 – 24GermanyGER
Match 3/428 Aug 21:30Russian FederationRUS28 – 26HungaryHUN
Match 5/628 Aug 19:30FranceFRA33 – 15GreeceGRE
Match 7/828 Aug 14:30SpainESP31 – 24Republic of KoreaKOR
Match 9/1024 Aug 11:30IcelandISL29 – 25BrazilBRA
Match 11/1224 Aug 9:30SloveniaSLO30 – 24EgyptEGY