| | Event type

Handball, Women

Date	21 – 29 September 1988
Status	Olympic
Location	Su-won Sil-nae Che-yuk-gwan, Suwon
Participants	111 from 8 countries
Format	Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches.

The women’s field now consisted of eight teams for the first time. This still did not guarantee a very broad field of top nations, as three spots were reserved for continental champions (China, Ivory Coast and the US), and one for the host nation (South Korea). The remaining four places were earned at the 1986 World Championships (Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Norway) and the 1987 B World Championships (Yugoslavia).

The South Koreans had been in preparation for the tournament for years, training under isolated, Spartan conditions. This had not yet resulted in fame at the 1986 Worlds (12th), but paid off at the Olympics. They started off with a win against Czechoslovakia, but subsequently lost to Yugoslavia. Their win against the US secured Korea’s spot in the final pool, but they would carry their lost match into the final pool. In the other group, Norway and the USSR easily held off China and Ivory Coast, and drew 19-19 to both qualify for the next round.

In that tense final group, the Soviets first defeated Yugoslavia, while Korea beat Norway. This meant three teams were still in a position to win the gold, and even Norway could still claim the silver medal. The Norwegian women pulled away from Yugoslavia 20-15, meaning they had secured at least a bronze. The unofficial final match between South Korea and the USSR was sold out, filled with enthusiastic Korean supporters. The agile Koreans pulled up to a 16-12 lead, but saw it disappear as the Soviets scored five times in a row to take the lead, 17-16. In a last-ditch effort, the hosts managed to come back in to the game, winning it 21-19 in front of an ecstatic crowd. The Soviet women fell back to third, as the Norwegian team claimed its first Olympic medal in the sport.

Pos	Number	Team	NOC	Games	Goals / Saves	Attempts / Shots on Goal	Shots % / Save %	6 metre Shots / Attempts - Saves / Shots	Wing Shots / Attempts - Saves / Shots	9 metre Shots / Attempts - Saves / Shots	7 metre Shots / Attempts - Saves / Shots	Fastbreak Shots / Attempts - Saves / Shots	Breakthrough Shots / Attempts - Saves / Shots	Assists	Technical Faults	Warnings	Suspensions	Disqualifications	Exclusions
1	–	Republic of Korea	KOR	5	120	219	0.548	29/37	12/23	1/1	21/26	21/26	36/106	54	70	9	14	0	0	Gold
	1	Song Ji-Hyeon		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Han Hyeon-Suk		5	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Kim Chun-Rye		5	24	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Kim Myeong-Sun		5	6	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Lee Gi-Sun		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Kim Hyeon-Mi		5	20	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Kim Mi-Suk		5	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Seok Min-Hui		5	15	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Son Mi-Na		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	13	Im Mi-Gyeong		5	16	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	14	Kim Gyeong-Sun		5	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	15	Seong Gyeong-Hwa		5	18	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Lee Mi-Yeong DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Kim Yeong-Suk DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Park Hyeon-Suk DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Koh Byung-Hoon
2	–	Norway	NOR	5	115	197	0.584	31/38	16/30	0/3	24/28	15/21	29/77	69	66	12	13	0	0	Silver
	1	Vibeke Johnsen		1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Cathrine Svendsen		5	16	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Heidi Sundal		5	16	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Hanne Hegh		5	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Hanne Hogness		5	14	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Karin Singstad		5	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Trine Haltvik		5	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Berit Digre		3	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Ingrid Steen		5	18	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Karin Pettersen		5	13	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Annette Skotvoll		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	13	Kristin Midthun		5	21	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	14	Marte Eliasson		1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	16	Kjerstin Andersen		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Susann Goksør-Bjerkrheim DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		1
Coach		Sven-Tore Jacobsen
3	–	Soviet Union	URS	5	112	202	0.554	32/40	10/18	0/4	15/20	16/19	39/101	47	81	9	17	1	0	Bronze
	1	Nataliya Mitryuk		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Larisa Karlova		5	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Svetlana Mankova		3	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Zinaida Turchina		4	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Olga Semyonova		3	6	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Marina Bazanova		5	13	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Nataliya Morskova		5	25	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Tatyana Gorb		5	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Yevgeniya Tovstogan		4	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Nataliya Rusnachenko		1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	13	Yelena Nemashkalo		5	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	16	Tatyana Dzhandzhgava		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	17	Nataliya Anisimova		5	13	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	18	Elina Guseva		1	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	19	Nataliya Lapitskaya		5	17	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Igor Turchin
4	–	Yugoslavia	YUG	5	88	168	0.524	36/51	7/18	0/0	7/11	6/8	32/80	41	85	9	23	1	0
	2	Mirjana Krstić		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Slavica Rinčić		3	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Dragana Pešić		5	12	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Svetlana Obućina		1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Zita Galic		5	22	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Ljubinka Janković		5	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Svetlana Mičić		1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Ljiljana Marković		1	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Mirjana Đurica		5	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Nataša Kolega		5	14	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Slavica Ðukić		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	13	Ljiljana Mugoša		5	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	14	Svetlana Mugoša-Antić		5	15	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	15	Desanka Stojanović		5	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	16	Dragica Đurić		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Dragan Nisević
5	–	Czechoslovakia	TCH	5	141	240	0.588	30/43	27/55	0/0	23/29	30/36	31/77	83	61	10	19	1	0
	1	Anna Hradská		4	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Irena Tomašovičová		2	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Daniela Trandžíková-Nováková		5	14	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Marie Šmídová		2	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Gabriela Sabadošová		4	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Júlia Kolečániová		4	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Zuzana Budayová		5	14	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Alena Damitšová		5	15	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Petra Lupačová		5	18	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Mária Ďurišinová		4	24	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Monika Hejtmánková		5	16	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Lenka Pospíšilová		3	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	13	Jana Stašová		5	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	14	Božena Mažgutová		4	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	16	Marta Pösová		3	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Jiří Žeržan
6	–	People's Republic of China	CHN	5	128	213	0.601	36/48	20/32	0/0	18/22	26/32	28/79	69	76	12	8	0	0
	2	Zhang Hong		5	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	He Jianping		5	26	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Zhang Weihong		5	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Wang Mingxing		5	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Chen Zhen		5	21	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Li Lirong		5	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Li Jie		5	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Sun Xiulan		5	36	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Xue Jinhua		5	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	13	Dai Jianfen		5	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	16	Wang Tao		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	18	Lu Guanghong		5	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Shi Wei DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Li Chuanfen DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Liu Peili DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Zhang Yulin
7	–	United States	USA	5	104	216	0.481	29/37	11/21	6/9	14/21	20/28	24/100	56	74	9	16	0	0
	1	Kathy Callaghan		2	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Amy Gamble		5	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Megan Gallagher		5	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Sherry Winn		5	9	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	5	Karyn Palgut		5	8	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Portia Lack		5	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Sandra De La Riva		3	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Kim Clarke		5	12	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Cindy Stinger		3	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Angie Raynor		3	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	13	Sam Jones		5	35	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	14	Carol Peterka		5	12	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	15	Penny Stone		4	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	16	Laura Coenen		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Maureen Latterner DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Mihály Faludi
8	–	Côte d'Ivoire	CIV	5	65	202	0.322	16/24	10/29	0/0	7/15	3/6	29/128	22	98	12	21	0	0
	1	Elisabeth Kouassi		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	2	Wandou Guei		3	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	3	Koko Elleingand		4	1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	4	Emilie Djoman		5	11	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	6	Zomou Awa		5	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	7	Alimata Douamba		5	2	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	8	Mahoula Kramou		5	21	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	9	Clementine Blé		4	3	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	10	Adjoua N'Dri		4	6	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	11	Dounbia Bah		4	5	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	12	Julienne Vodoungbo		5	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	13	Hortense Konan		3	0	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	14	Gouna Irie		4	4	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	15	Brigitte Guigui		4	7	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
	–	Euphrasie Vodoungbo DNS		–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Coach		Tokou Bleou

Preliminary Round

Date	21 – 25 September 1988

Group A

Date	21 – 25 September 1988
Format	Round-robin pools.

Pos	Team	NOC	Wins	Losses	Points	Goals
1	Republic of Korea	KOR	2	1	4	76-67
2	Yugoslavia	YUG	2	1	4	58-58
3	Czechoslovakia	TCH	2	1	4	81-69
4	United States	USA	0	3	0	55-76

Match	Date/Time	Team	NOC	Result	Team	NOC
Match #1	21 Sep 14:00	Republic of Korea	KOR	33 – 27	Czechoslovakia	TCH
Match #2	21 Sep 18:00	Yugoslavia	YUG	19 – 18	United States	USA
Match #3	23 Sep 14:00	Czechoslovakia	TCH	33 – 19	United States	USA
Match #4	23 Sep 18:00	Yugoslavia	YUG	22 – 19	Republic of Korea	KOR
Match #5	25 Sep 14:00	Republic of Korea	KOR	24 – 18	United States	USA
Match #6	25 Sep 18:00	Czechoslovakia	TCH	21 – 17	Yugoslavia	YUG

Group B

Date	21 – 25 September 1988
Format	Round-robin pools.

Pos	Team	NOC	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	Goals
1	Soviet Union	URS	2	1	0	5	75-49
2	Norway	NOR	2	1	0	5	75-53
3	People's Republic of China	CHN	1	0	2	2	76-58
4	Côte d'Ivoire	CIV	0	0	3	0	37-103

Match	Date/Time	Team	NOC	Result	Team	NOC
Match #1	21 Sep 15:30	Soviet Union	URS	24 – 19	People's Republic of China	CHN
Match #2	21 Sep 19:30	Norway	NOR	34 – 14	Côte d'Ivoire	CIV
Match #3	23 Sep 15:30	Soviet Union	URS	32 – 11	Côte d'Ivoire	CIV
Match #4	23 Sep 19:30	Norway	NOR	22 – 20	People's Republic of China	CHN
Match #5	25 Sep 15:30	People's Republic of China	CHN	37 – 12	Côte d'Ivoire	CIV
Match #6	25 Sep 19:30	Norway	NOR	19 – 19	Soviet Union	URS

Classification Round 5-8

Date	27 – 29 September 1988
Format	Classification matches.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	Wins	Losses	Points	Points
1	Czechoslovakia	TCH	3	0	6	93-52
2	People's Republic of China	CHN	2	1	4	89-60
3	United States	USA	1	2	2	68-80
4	Côte d'Ivoire	CIV	0	3	0	40-98

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	27 Sep 14:00	Zhang / He / Zhang / Wang / Chen / Li / Li / Sun / Xue / Dai / Wang / Lu	CHN	31 – 22	Callaghan / Clarke / Coenen / De La Riva / Gallagher / Gamble / Jones / Lack / Palgut / Peterka / Stone / Winn	USA
Match #2	27 Sep 15:30	Damitšová / Trandžíková-Nováková / Sabadošová / Tomašovičová / Stašová / Kolečániová / Pospíšilová / Šmídová / Pösová / Hejtmánková / Lupačová / Budayová	TCH	34 – 12	Douamba / Guigui / Blé / Kouassi / Djoman / Irie / Konan / Vodoungbo / Elleingand / Kramou / Guei / Awa	CIV
Match #3	29 Sep 14:00	Callaghan / Clarke / Coenen / De La Riva / Gallagher / Gamble / Jones / Lack / Palgut / Peterka / Stone / Winn	USA	27 – 16	N'Dri / Douamba / Blé / Bah / Kouassi / Djoman / Irie / Konan / Vodoungbo / Kramou / Guei / Awa	CIV
Match #4	29 Sep 15:30	Czechoslovakia	TCH	26 – 21	People's Republic of China	CHN

Final Round

Date	27 – 29 September 1988
Format	Medal round.

Pos	Competitors	NOC	Wins	Ties	Losses	Points	Points
1	Republic of Korea	KOR	2	0	1	4	63-61
2	Norway	NOR	1	1	1	3	59-57
3	Soviet Union	URS	1	1	1	3	56-55
4	Yugoslavia	YUG	1	0	2	2	52-57

Match	Date/Time	Competitors	NOC	Result	Competitors	NOC
Match #1	27 Sep 18:00	Mitryuk / Karlova / Mankova / Turchina / Bazanova / Morskova / Tovstogan / Nemashkalo / Dzhandzhgava / Anisimova / Lapitskaya / Gorb	URS	18 – 15	Stojanović / Pešić / Đurić / Mugoša / Janković / Đurica / Kolega / Ðukić / Rinčić / Mičić / Mugoša-Antić / Galic	YUG
Match #2	27 Sep 19:30	Song / Han / Kim / Kim / Lee / Kim / Kim / Seok / Son / Im / Kim / Seong	KOR	23 – 20	Svendsen / Sundal / Hegh / Hogness / Singstad / Haltvik / Digre / Steen / Pettersen / Skotvoll / Midthun / Andersen	NOR
Match #3	29 Sep 18:00	Svendsen / Sundal / Hegh / Hogness / Singstad / Haltvik / Steen / Pettersen / Skotvoll / Midthun / Andersen	NOR	20 – 15	Stojanović / Pešić / Đurić / Mugoša / Janković / Đurica / Krstić / Kolega / Ðukić / Mugoša-Antić / Obućina / Galic	YUG
Match #4	29 Sep 19:30	Song / Han / Kim / Kim / Lee / Kim / Kim / Seok / Son / Im / Kim / Seong	KOR	21 – 19	Mitryuk / Karlova / Mankova / Turchina / Bazanova / Morskova / Tovstogan / Nemashkalo / Dzhandzhgava / Anisimova / Lapitskaya / Gorb	URS