| | Event type
Handball, Women
| Date | 6 – 20 August 2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Arena do Futuro, Parque Olímpico da Barra, Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro | |
| Participants | 176 from 12 countries | |
| Format | Round-robin pools advance teams to classification matches. | |
The two preliminary groups of the women’s Olympic handball tournament were won by the host nation Brazil and Russia. While Brazil lost to the Netherlands in the quarter-final, Russia walked through to the final without losing any game in the tournament. The gold medal match saw Russia beating France for the second time during the tournament. It was the first Olympic title for a Russian women’s handball team ever after the Soviet Union had taken the gold medal in 1976 and 1980. The bronze medal was won by Norway, two-time Olympic champion and reigning world champion, by beating the Netherlands with an impressive difference of 10 goals.
Preliminary Round
| Date | 6 – 14 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top four teams in each group advance to quarter-finals. |
Group A
| Date | 6 – 14 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top four teams in group advance to quarter-finals. |
| Pos | Team | NOC | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil |  BRA | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 138-117 | ||
| 2 | Norway |  NOR | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 141-121 | ||
| 3 | Spain |  ESP | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 125-116 | ||
| 4 | Angola |  ANG | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 116-128 | ||
| 5 | Romania |  ROU | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 108-119 | ||
| 6 | Montenegro |  MNE | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 107-134 |
Group B
| Date | 6 – 14 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top four teams in group advance to quarter-finals. |
| Pos | Team | NOC | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russian Federation |  RUS | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 165-147 | ||
| 2 | France |  FRA | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 118-93 | ||
| 3 | Sweden |  SWE | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 150-141 | ||
| 4 | Netherlands |  NED | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 135-135 | ||
| 5 | Republic of Korea |  KOR | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 130-136 | ||
| 6 | Argentina |  ARG | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 101-147 |
Quarter-Finals
| Date | 16 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advances to semi-finals. |
Semi-Finals
| Date | 18 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advances to gold medal match. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 18 Aug 15:30 | Ayglon-Saurina / Pineau / Landre / Prouvensier / Houette / Dembélé / Bulleux / Edwige / Nze Minko / Niombla / Lacrabère / Glauser / Leynaud | FRA | 24 – 23 | van der Heijden / Abbingh / van Olphen / Snelder / Broch / Groot / Dulfer / Goos / Smeets / Malestein / Luciano / Polman / Janković / Wester | NED | |
| Match #2 | 18 Aug 20:30 | Kuznetsova / Dmitriyeva / Sen / Akopyan / Vyakhireva / Sudakova / Bobrovnikova / Zhilinskayte / Marennikova / Bliznova / Ilyina / Petrova / Yerokhina / Kalinina | RUS | 38 – 37 | Molid / Arntzen / Kristiansen / Alstad / Løke / Mørk / Oftedal / Frafjord / Riegelhuth Koren / Kurtović / Herrem / Solberg / Grimsbø / Lunde-Haraldsen | NOR | After Extra Time |
Final Round
| Date | 20 August 2016 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match 1/2 | 20 Aug 15:30 | Kuznetsova / Dmitriyeva / Sen / Akopyan / Vyakhireva / Sudakova / Bobrovnikova / Zhilinskayte / Marennikova / Bliznova / Ilyina / Petrova / Yerokhina / Kalinina | RUS | 22 – 19 | Ayglon-Saurina / Pineau / Landre / Zaadi / Prouvensier / Houette / Dembélé / Horacek / Edwige / Nze Minko / Niombla / Lacrabère / Glauser / Leynaud | FRA | |
| Match 3/4 | 20 Aug 11:30 | Molid / Arntzen / Kristiansen / Alstad / Løke / Mørk / Oftedal / Frafjord / Kurtović / Herrem / Solberg / Grimsbø / Lunde-Haraldsen | NOR | 36 – 26 | van der Heijden / Abbingh / van Olphen / Snelder / Broch / Groot / Dulfer / Goos / Smeets / Malestein / Luciano / Polman / Janković / Wester | NED |