Norwegian Masterclass

The final of the women Olympics handball was one-sided, with Norway winning 34-27. Norway romped to a 9-2 lead within like 10 minutes and never relinquished their lead after that. With 2 minutes remaining, they were leading 34-24. Russia managed to cut the deficit to 7 only because Norway were playing with 4 outfielders after Gro Hammerseng(10) and Goeril Snorroegen(5) were handed 2 minutes suspension each.

The Norwegians were outstanding, while the Russians never got going. 5 minutes, that crazy first 5 minutes took everything out of the Russians. A high-paced game like handball is one where you have to make every attack count. Once you start to fall behind, it's a long way back, because you have to bank on your opponents not converting their chances, which was something Norway never looked like doing. They were simply scoring at will. They hit Russia on the counter: a forward one-on-one with the goalkeeper is always going to score. It was so lethal, the way the ball goes up the pitch so quickly that the defenders were all taken out. They also seemed to be able to score from anywhere, any angle, any body position. The No.18 Linn-Kristin Riegelhuth scored 9 from 10 shots, the No.6 Else Lybekk scored 7 from 9. The keeper Katrine Haraldsen was also magnificent in goal, saving 14 out of 36 shots. When you combine these statistics together, you will understand why the Russians had no chance at all.

What struck me was how they combined their brilliant attacking play with hard defending. They were ready to play rough, to break up the Russian rhythm. They played pretty and ugly at the same time. Today, the Norwegians had played like champions.

Korea, such unlucky losers in that fateful semi-final against Norway, were too good for the Hungarians in the bronze medal game: 33-28. If you look at the scores of the semis, the bronze medal game and the final, you will suspect that maybe it should have been a Norway-Korea final and a Hungary-Russia bronze medal match. But sometimes it is so, that the two best teams meet in the semi-final instead. Unfair as it may be, the loser have to go for the bronze.

Hockey

I realize that in the end, sometimes there isn't really much between the top four teams. Of course the Dutch were a class above- they won all of their games in this tournament. But between China, Argentina and Germany, it was rather unfair that the Germans were the ones who had to go home without a medal. But you could say it was their own fault that they didn't beat China in the semi, because they had done enough in the group stage to avoid Holland- that should have set them up for a rematch of the 2004 Final.

But looking at the team, you can't help but feel sorry for them- they had deserved more. Argentina didn't play particularly well, but they were a good team, no doubt about it. It may be biased to say this, but I feel that the ranking based on quality should have been so: Holland, Argentina, Germany and China.

It is massive disappointment and my heart goes out to Marion Rodewald- there wasn't a better Captain than her. There are some players whom you look at them and know at once that they are the captain; there is just this aura. She is such a player. Unassuming, stays in the background, but is always there when needed.

There is a reason why captains are preferably defensive midfielders, midfielders or defenders but not attacking midfielders or strikers. Such attacking players already carry a lot of responsibilities, expectations on their shoulders- the captaincy would only be additional burden. Players like Natascha Keller, Anke Kuehn are the key players in the German attack, the team looks to them for goals. In fact, I think the commentator's favourite name is Anke Kuehn. You never hear him say Kuehn- it's always Anke Kuehn. It sounds better that way, and always invokes a sense of expectation. But you never really hear "Rodewald". Yet the fact is that Rinne Fanny is the German top scorer with 3 goals, and Rodewald, Anke Kuehn, Keller and Janine Beerman all have 2 goals each.

In the Bronze Medal match, there was an incident where Argentina broke away, the forward was totally free when Rodewald suddenly appeared to nick the ball off her. At that time, I was thinking: is there a player who can play anywhere such that when you are chasing the game and need to bring on an attacker, you can bring off a defender and put that player in defence instead.