# Handball at the 2012 Summer Olympics

The handball tournaments at the 2012 Olympic Games in London was held from 28 July to 12 August in the Olympic Park.
Preliminary rounds and the quarter-finals were held in the Copper Box while the semi-finals and final took place in the larger Basketball Arena.
Medals were awarded in a men's tournament and a women's tournament. The gold medals were won by France (men) and Norway (women).

## Events

Two sets of medals were awarded in the following events:
* Men's handball (12 teams)
* Women's handball (12 teams)

## Referees

The executive committee of the International Handball Federation appointed 17 referee pairs for the 2012 Games:
* Charlotte Bonaventura and Julie Bonaventura
* Diana-Carmen Florescu and Anamaria Duță
* Carlos María Mariana and Darío Leonel Minore
* Yalatima Coulibali and Mamoudou Diabaté
* Matija Gubica and Boris Milošević
* Václav Horáček and Jiří Novotný
* Per Olesen and Lars Ejby Pedersen
* Oscar Raluy and Ángel Sabroso
* Nordine Lazaar and Laurent Reveret
* Brian Bartlett and Allan Stokes
* Lars Geipel and Marcus Helbig
* Gjorgi Nachevski and Slave Nikolov
* Kenneth Abrahamsen and Arne M. Kristiansen
* Mansour Abdulla Al-Suwaidi and Saleh Jamaan Bamurtef
* Nenad Krstič and Peter Ljubič
* Nenad Nikolić and Dušan Stojković
* Omar Mohammed Zubaeer Al-Marzouqi and Mohammed Rashid Mohamed Al-Nuaimi

## Qualifying criteria

Each National Olympic Committee may enter up to one men's and one women's team in the handball tournaments.

### Men

| | Date | Venue | Vacancies | Qualified |
| Host nation | 6 July 2005 | Singapore | 1 | Great Britain |
| 2011 World Championship | 13–30 January 2011 | Sweden | 1 | France |
| 2011 Pan American Games | 16–24 October 2011 | Mexico | 1 | Argentina |
| 2011 Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament | 23 October – 2 November 2011 | South Korea | 1 | South Korea |
| 2012 African Championship | 11–20 January 2012 | Morocco | 1 | Tunisia |
| 2012 European Championship | 15–29 January 2012 | Serbia | 1 | Denmark |
| 2012 IHF Qualification Tournament #1 | 6–8 April 2012 | Spain | 2 | Spain Serbia |
| 2012 IHF Qualification Tournament #2 | 6–8 April 2012 | Sweden | 2 | Sweden Hungary |
| 2012 IHF Qualification Tournament #3 | 6–8 April 2012 | Croatia | 2 | Croatia Iceland |
| Total | | | 12 | |

### Women

| | Date | Venue | Vacancies | Qualified |
| Host Nation | 6 July 2005 | Singapore | 1 | Great Britain |
| 2010 European Championship | 7–19 December 2010 | Denmark Norway | 1 | Sweden |
| 2011 Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament | 12–21 October 2011 | China | 1 | South Korea |
| 2011 Pan American Games | 15–23 October 2011 | Mexico | 1 | Brazil |
| 2011 World Championship | 2–18 December 2011 | Brazil | 1 | Norway |
| 2012 African Championship | 11–20 January 2012 | Morocco | 1 | Angola |
| 2012 IHF Qualification Tournament #1 | 25–27 May 2012 | France | 2 | Montenegro France |
| 2012 IHF Qualification Tournament #2 | 25–27 May 2012 | Spain | 2 | Spain Croatia |
| 2012 IHF Qualification Tournament #3 | 25–27 May 2012 | Denmark | 2 | Russia Denmark |
| Total | | | 12 | |
    $^†$ Sweden qualified as 2010 European Championship runner up because Norway qualified as the 2011 World Champion.

## Medal summary
### Medal table

| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | France | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | Norway | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Montenegro | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | Sweden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Croatia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | Spain | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (6 entries) | Totals (6 entries) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |

### Medalists

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| Men's handball | France (FRA) Jérôme Fernandez Didier Dinart Xavier Barachet Guillaume Gille Bertrand Gille Daniel Narcisse Guillaume Joli Samuel Honrubia Daouda Karaboué Nikola Karabatić Thierry Omeyer William Accambray Luc Abalo Cédric Sorhaindo Michaël Guigou | Sweden (SWE) Mattias Andersson Mattias Gustafsson Kim Andersson Jonas Källman Magnus Jernemyr Niclas Ekberg Dalibor Doder Jonas Larholm Tobias Karlsson Johan Jakobsson Johan Sjöstrand Fredrik Petersen Kim Ekdahl du Rietz Mattias Zachrisson Andreas Nilsson | Croatia (CRO) Venio Losert Ivano Balić Domagoj Duvnjak Blaženko Lacković Marko Kopljar Igor Vori Jakov Gojun Zlatko Horvat Drago Vuković Damir Bičanić Denis Buntić Mirko Alilović Manuel Štrlek Ivan Čupić Ivan Ninčević |
| Women's handball | Norway (NOR) Kari Aalvik Grimsbø Ida Alstad Heidi Løke Tonje Nøstvold Karoline Dyhre Breivang Kristine Lunde-Borgersen Kari Mette Johansen Marit Malm Frafjord Linn Jørum Sulland Katrine Lunde Haraldsen Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth Koren Gøril Snorroeggen Amanda Kurtović Camilla Herrem | Montenegro (MNE) Marina Vukčević Radmila Miljanić Jovanka Radičević Ana Đokić Marija Jovanović Ana Radović Anđela Bulatović Sonja Barjaktarović Maja Savić Bojana Popović Suzana Lazović Katarina Bulatović Majda Mehmedović Milena Knežević | Spain (ESP) Andrea Barnó Carmen Martín* Nely Carla Alberto Beatriz Fernández Verónica Cuadrado Marta Mangué Macarena Aguilar Silvia Navarro Jessica Alonso Elisabeth Pinedo Begoña Fernández Vanessa Amorós Patricia Elorza Mihaela Ciobanu Marta López* |