Before the final, Spain repeated their Olympic history: After doing so at Atalanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2020, Jordi Ribera’s team secured the bronze medal.
The bronze-medal match against surprise package Slovenia was fully open for 60 minutes. In the end, it was the fourth consecutive Paris 2024 match for Spain to end with a one-goal difference. When the EHF EURO 2018 and 2020 champions turned a 19:20 score into 23:21, the deal was almost sealed. But Slovenia answered and Spain needed to wait for the final attack, when five-time EHF Champions League winner Gonzalo Perez de Vargas saved what could have been an equalising shot from Slovenia back Borut Mackovsek, before they could celebrate their fifth bronze medal.
“It's an amazing feeling. We didn't deserve to leave here without a medal. The team performance was amazing. We fought until the end in every game, in every single minute of every game. It's a great achievement for our country. And it looks like we like drama,” said Alex Dujshebaev after beating Slovenia.
In a semi-final full of drama, Spain were defeated 24:25 by Germany — more or less against goalkeeper Andreas Wolff. As he was when the sides met in the EHF EURO 2016 final, Wolff was a nightmare for Spain, saving 49 per cent of their shots.
In their very first Olympic semi-final, Aleks Vlah and his side were unlucky against Denmark. The Danes had been ahead 26:20, but Slovenia struck back in a brilliant way, ultimately losing 30:31. EHF Champions League finalist with Aalborg, Vlah finished the Olympic Games on 56 goals as second top scorer overall and was the key factor for his side’s historic performance.
