Lille. The German handball players are back among the best in the world. The Olympic final has been going on since 1:30 p.m. and gold is on the way. The live ticker.
Sunday. 1:30 p.m.: Duel against Denmark. Olympic gold final – Handball players from Germany I can’t wait. “I can speak for most of us that it will be the most important game of our careers,” said captain Johannes Golla. His eyes light up.
When national coach Alfred Gislason’s young team takes on the reigning world champions, the best team in recent years, to crown a fantastic handball tournament, all of Sport Germany will be watching. A triumph would be sensational – and the perfect end to an unforgettable summer games for the entire German Olympic team.
Golla and Co. first turned on the flicker box to get in the mood for the highlight of their career. After the dramatic semi-final win against Spain (25:24), they gathered in the physio room and watched the Olympics. For dinner, team coach Oliver Roggisch received something from the Italian, as he did after the epic quarter-final match against France (35:34). Pizza instead of cafeteria food. Recharge your batteries in a cozy atmosphere.
German handball players can only win
“This is what the Olympics meant to us: being together as a group, laughing, having fun and having a great time outside of the games,” said star Juri Knorr. It was precisely this sense of community that “got us through the games and gave us some really special moments throughout.” The Olympics, according to the 24-year-old, are “the best thing for every athlete, maybe not for football players, but for us.”
Bonjour, the last dance: Four dark circles for the Olympics
The starting position before the final, the first Olympic final with German participation since 2004, is clear: Denmark, Olympic champion in 2016, runner-up in 2021, has the gold to lose with its many exceptional talents, Germany can only win. The Danes, Golla said respectfully, were the “best national handball team in the world” and “came in as favorites for the title. But you also saw that the last two games were not a walk in the park for them. Something is also possible against Denmark.”
German handball players are already enjoying great success
German handball player Kai Häfner.
©AFP | ARIS MESSINIS
For German handball, securing the silver medal, their first Olympic medal since the bronze in 2016, is a huge success. After the 2007 World Cup triumph in their home country and the sensational European Championship title in 2016, the team formed by goalkeeping titan Andreas Wolff and defensive rocket Renars Uscins can secure another great moment on Sunday. It would be the first all-German Olympic victory, the first gold for a German team since the legendary triumph of the GDR in 1980.
The secret to the success of the tournament’s youngest team? Their unity. And a certain magic that is in the air when they are together on the field. Not later than the game against France, a “match of the century” as Knorr calls it, “everyone realized that something special was happening and that maybe it was our moment, our hour, to achieve something special.”
Last appearance of handball star Mikkel Hansen
In any case, Denmark were warned in star handball player Mikkel Hansen’s last game that the respect for the German national team is enormous. “If we play like we did today,” Danish striker Mathias Gidsel of Füchse Berlin told Eurosport after a gruelling 31.5 hours of semi-final action against Slovenia, “we will have no chance against Germany.”
Mainly because the German team’s self-confidence and self-image grew with each game. First the strong preliminary round, crowned with group victory, then the crazy knockout games against Spain and France. “I believe we can beat any team in one game,” says Golla and names the final formula for success: “If our goalkeepers perform as they did in the last games, if we regain that spirit, which we all strive for, then I think we have a chance.”
Germany’s last competitive victory came at the 2016 European Championships in Wroclaw, where Germany won its last title to date.