In what was the last match of her prestigious career, Norway playmaker Stine Oftedal secured the last title missing from her collection, after she had won the EHF Champions League in June with Györ — her third title in the top-flight competition — in her final match on a club level.
In total, it was the ninth Olympic medal for Norway and fifth consecutive, as they were bronze medallists at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020. For France it was the third straight Olympic final and medal. At Rio 2016 they lost the gold-medal game to Russia then beat the same opponents at Tokyo 2020, to enter the home Games as defending champions. The French series of success on home ground ended after seven consecutive victories from the start in Paris until the semi-final in Lille, where they beat Sweden 31:28 after overtime.
Norway left their Scandinavian archrivals Denmark behind 25:21 in the second semi-final, played on Friday. After losing their preliminary round opener against Sweden, head coach Thorir Hergeirsson’s team took seven straight wins to finish on top of the podium. Goalkeeper Katrine Lunde won her third Olympic gold medal, while Nora Mörk has become the all-time top scorer at the Olympic Games.
It was thanks to 44-year-old Lunde that Norway built the base for the final victory with an intermediate 21:15 advantage. Though France were pushed by the fans in the sold-out arena in Lille, they were chanceless against the defensive strength and attacking precision of the new Olympic champions. The 29:21 result was the clearest ever victory in a women’s Olympic handball final. The top scorer for the victors was current IHF World Player of the Year, Henny Reistad, with eight goals. Lunde finished with 12 saves were in her tally.
