There is ample evidence that a type of handball was played in ancient times and then in Europe from the Middle Ages onwards.

The modern game of handball can trace its origins to Germany, Denmark and Czechoslovakia. Various forms of handball were first played in the 1890s and one of the earliest proponents of the sport was the Dane, Holger Nielsen, who has become more famous for his invention of a method of artificial respiration. By World War I, other countries in Europe had embraced the game, particularly in Sweden and Holland.

Handball as we know it today had it genesis in Germany in 1919. However, the game was played on a soccer field with eleven players per side. In Amsterdam in 1928, representatives from eleven countries met and formed the International Amateur Handball Association with the American, Avery Brundage, joining the inaugural committee. Brundage was to become a member of the International Olympic Committee in 1936 and served as its president from 1952 until 1972.

The eleven-a-side outdoor game for men became an Olympic sport in Berlin in 1936, with the gold medal being won by Germany. The eleven-a-side form of the game did not reappear on the Olympic program after World War II and its popularity began to wane.

Because of the harsher climatic conditions, particularly in Scandinavia, a seven-a-side indoor game was developing with countries from Eastern Europe also quick to take up the indoor version.

The sport reappeared in the indoor form, once again for men only at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. The women’s competition was introduced four years later in Montreal and both have remained on the Olympic program ever since.

Handball is a fast-paced game involving two teams of seven players who pass, throw, catch and dribble a small ball with their hands while trying to score goals. The team with the most goals wins the game. A game consists of two 30-minute halves with a 10-minute half-time break.

The court for handball is 40 metres long and 20 metres wide. The goal area is D-shaped, arcing from the corners to a straight line six metres in front of the goal. The arcing sides similarly create a six-metre distance from the nearest part of the goal at all points. Players cannot be inside the arc when they have a shot at goal.

The men’s tournament at the Games features 12 teams and the women’s tournament 10 teams at the Olympic Games.

Australia’s men’s and women’s teams have never qualified for the Olympic handball competition. Both teams did compete at Sydney 2000 by virtue of Australia being the host nation.

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