Program for the Danish matches:

The Olympic theme pages (for the Olympics 2004 go here)

The team
News
Match results for all the teams (in Danish)
Statistics for the Danish team
An Australian spectator's experiences
The quitters

We did it! From an expected 5th. place, the girls worked their way up, grew with every match untill perfection and now we have won OLYMPIC GOLD once again!! 31-27 (14-16) Mega-sensation!! When all looked like doom (6 goals short) the girls raced up to win during the last 15 thrilling minutes!

Sensational! What we never thought possible: Denmark is in the finals!!! The most perfect match we ever played swept the Koreans crying out of the Dome with 31-29 (20-11). Denmark will meet Hungary in the finals on Sunday.

Voila! In a nerve wrecking match Denmark WON over the old enemy France with 28-26 after prolonged time 24-24, with 13-8 after the first half. We are in the semifinals and will meet the scary Koreans tomorrow. Read more in my news section! The girls wanted revenge and couldn't wait to play the French out of the court, showing whose type of handball is the right type of handball - and that the new team can also kick ass! Esp. Camilla had a lot to show in what could be her last tournament.

Denmark - Brazil: 39-26 (19-12) (piece of cake)

Easy match against the host country: Denmark - Australia: 38-12 (18-6)

It was a great relief finally to manage a victory and thus contribute to the (not so big) self-esteem of the Danish team: Denmark beat Austria with 30 - 26, the star player being goal keeper Lene Rantala - as usual, one could say.

Already during the much awaited first Olympic match, we had to meet the potential Olympic winners Norway. Our previous meetings with them this year have not been promising. This time also, Norway won. Their victory was with only 2 goals 17 - 19 (7 - 10) which is a good sign of the Danish team's development. Defense and goal keeper Rantala have never been better. Only the attack is still too weak.

* What is your country's media saying about us?

29. Sept.

Semi finals:
Denmark - South Korea: 31-29 (20-11)

Norway - Hungary: 23-28

1. Oct.

Bronze match
Norway - South Korea

Finals
Denmark - Hungary:
31 - 27 (14-16)

3. Oct. 12.45

4. Oct. 6.45

Departure from Sydney

Arrival Copenhagen airport
and celebration there and in the home towns of the players.

Gold: Denmark
Silver: Hungary
Bronze: Norway
4. Korea
5. Austria
6. France
7. Rumania

See statistics and more here.

• Who were the Danish participants on the Olympic gold team from Atlanta 96?
• Read about a Spanish spectators' great time watching the Danish team winning gold in 96: The Atlanta Experience

All-Star Team

Heid Tjugum (Norway)
Anette Hoffmann (Denmark)
Kjersti Grini (Norway)
Veronique Perqueux (France)
Seong-Ok Oh (Korea)
B. Radulovic (Hungary)
Janne Kolling (Denmark)

* The results and scores of the Danish Olympic matches can also be seen in my results section.

Good memories with Danish results from previous championships can also be found there.

Ulrik Wilbek (former coach) to the World Handball Magazine about the Danish chances of winning Olympic medals:

"If it is true that Korea has reactivated some of the experienced players, such as O-Kyeung Lim, then they will be the contenders for the gold medal for me. Since only the Olympic Games really count in Korea, the team is known to always prepare in a particularly thorough way for this tournament. It will be very strong in Sydney. I am counting on Denmark in the final, as they have digested the shock of the weak result at the WC well, and are additionally able to fall back on some players who were missing in Norway. In contrast to many other experts, I don't expect very much from world champion Norway this time, as the team needs a generational change. Runner-up France will not cause that much furore in Sydney, because the competitors know the team very well now, and can thus prepare themselves well for fighting this super defence. Maybe Norway and France will meet in the match for bronze." (World Handball Magazine, August 2000)

However, coach Jan Pytlick aimed for the semifinals, and contrary to Ulrik, he did not think, we could get any medals. His suggestion for a winner was Hungary and either France or Rumania as second.

Monopoly on the Olympics:

The Stage Is Set for Piracy Should we? Yo-Ho-Ho!

Olympic links: See my linkspage

Or - Find out how a handball court is organized:
Britannica's Olympic site

Team handball theme in The Washington Post.

What is handball anyway? Ask the BBC

What do the players look like? Portraits on tv2

Olympic photos 2000

Seven of the players originally chosen for the Olympic team this year were also part of the 96 Olympic gold winning team? These veterans are:
Janne Kolling, Camilla Andersen, Tonje Kjærgaard, Tine Bøttzau, Gitte Sunesen (injuried in the last moment so is not going anyway), Anette Hoffmann and Lene Rantala.

Have a look at that ol' team and learn what happened to the rest!

Did you know that:
The girls have met with the Crown Prince Frederik and his younger brother Joachim, who both are in Sydney to cheer up their countrymen and -women - and all players now has something extra for their private photo albums.....

Did you know that:
Former national team captain Anne Dorthe Tannerup has moved to Toscana, Italy with her boyfriend Bjarne Riis (former Tour de France winner). She is opening a shop dealing with interior decoration, a franchise of the Danish company IC Company, selling Scandinavian design. She is glad to escape the Danish press and start a new life far away from the handball scene.