France clinched Olympic gold in handball, beating the Russian Olympic Committee 30-25 in the final on Sunday.
The championship served as a rematch of the Rio gold-medal game, in which Russia defeated France to earn the top spot on the podium.
ON VOUS REMET UN PEU D'OR OLYMPIQUE ? 🥇🇫🇷 #BleuetFier #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/KQzvbTkndI— Equipes de France de Handball (@FRAHandball) August 8, 2021
ON VOUS REMET UN PEU D'OR OLYMPIQUE ? 🥇🇫🇷 #BleuetFier #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/KQzvbTkndI
France prevailed down the stretch in Tokyo, scoring six unanswered points to pull in front of Russia. Pauletta Foppa and Allison Pineau led France in scoring with seven goals apiece.
“We have a lot of emotions here. We are happy, excited also, we just want to cry because it was really hard for us in this tournament,” French player Kalidatou Niakaté said after the gold-medal match.
The French women were joined on the podium by the men’s handball team, making France the first country to sweep both handball competitions since Yugoslavia did it in 1984.