| Date | 6 – 20 August 2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Arena do Futuro, Parque Olímpico da Barra, Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro | |
| Participants | 176 from 12 countries | |
| Format | Round-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches. | |
The two preliminary groups of the women’s Olympic handball tournament were won by the host nation Brazil and Russia. While Brazil lost to the Netherlands in the quarter-final, Russia walked through to the final without losing any game in the tournament. The gold medal match saw Russia beating France for the second time during the tournament. It was the first Olympic title for a Russian women’s handball team ever after the Soviet Union had taken the gold medal in 1976 and 1980. The bronze medal was won by Norway, two-time Olympic champion and reigning world champion, by beating the Netherlands with an impressive difference of 10 goals.
| Date | 6 – 14 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top 4 teams in each group advanced to quarter-finals. |
| Date | 6 – 14 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top 4 teams in group advanced to quarter-finals. |
| Pos | Team | NOC | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brazil | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 138-117 | |||
| 2 | Norway | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 141-121 | |||
| 3 | Spain | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 125-116 | |||
| 4 | Angola | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 116-128 | |||
| 5 | Romania | 2 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 108-119 | |||
| 6 | Montenegro | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 107-134 |
| Date | 6 – 14 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Top 4 teams in group advanced to quarter-finals. |
| Pos | Team | NOC | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russian Federation | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 165-147 | |||
| 2 | France | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 118-93 | |||
| 3 | Sweden | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 150-141 | |||
| 4 | Netherlands | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 135-135 | |||
| 5 | Republic of Korea | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 130-136 | |||
| 6 | Argentina | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 101-147 |
| Date | 16 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to semi-finals. |
| Date | 18 August 2016 |
|---|---|
| Format | Winner of each match advanced to gold medal match. |
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match #1 | 18 Aug 15:30 | Ayglon-Saurina / Pineau / Landre / Prouvensier / Houette / Dembélé / Bulleux / Edwige / Nze Minko / Niombla / Lacrabère / Glauser / Leynaud | 24 – 23 | van der Heijden / Abbingh / van Olphen / Snelder / Broch / Groot / Dulfer / Goos / Smeets / Malestein / Luciano / Polman / Janković / Wester | |||
| Match #2 | 18 Aug 20:30 | Kuznetsova / Dmitriyeva / Sen / Akopyan / Vyakhireva / Sudakova / Bobrovnikova / Zhilinskayte / Marennikova / Bliznova / Ilyina / Petrova / Yerokhina / Kalinina 26 | 38 – 37 | Molid / Arntzen / Kristiansen / Alstad / Løke / Mørk / Oftedal / Frafjord / Riegelhuth Koren / Kurtović / Herrem / Solberg / Grimsbø / Lunde-Haraldsen | After Extra Time |
| Date | 20 August 2016 |
|---|
| Match | Date/Time | Competitors | NOC | Result | Competitors | NOC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Match 1/2 | 20 Aug 15:30 | Kuznetsova / Dmitriyeva / Sen / Akopyan / Vyakhireva / Sudakova / Bobrovnikova / Zhilinskayte / Marennikova / Bliznova / Ilyina / Petrova / Yerokhina / Kalinina | 22 – 19 | Ayglon-Saurina / Pineau / Landre / Zaadi Deuna / Prouvensier / Houette / Dembélé / Horacek / Edwige / Nze Minko / Niombla / Lacrabère / Glauser / Leynaud 27 | |||
| Match 3/4 | 20 Aug 11:30 | Molid / Arntzen / Kristiansen / Alstad / Løke / Mørk / Oftedal / Frafjord / Kurtović / Herrem / Solberg / Grimsbø / Lunde-Haraldsen | 36 – 26 | van der Heijden / Abbingh / van Olphen / Snelder / Broch / Groot / Dulfer / Goos / Smeets / Malestein / Luciano / Polman / Janković / Wester |