Victorious over Germany (26-23), the French women’s handball team qualified without a hitch for the semi-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and will face Sweden on Thursday, August 8, who beat Hungary (36-32) on Tuesday at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
A French team that is still very tight-lipped. At the Tokyo Olympics, their doctrine was to “close the shop”. Three years later, it was again thanks to their defense that the French women qualified for the semi-finals, inns the wake of their goalkeeper Laura Glauser, who made thirteen saves in 36 attempts by the opposition. Enough to limit the German attacks and fill their offensive gaps.
Tamara Horacek, undisputed leader of the Blues. Co-top French scorer with Pauletta Foppa before the start of the knockout matches, Tamara Horacek has now taken sole control of the rankings by scoring 7 goals from 9 shots attempted. As a symbol, it was also the centre-half who launched the French team by scoring the first goal of the match. “She scores, she finds her pivot, she defends, she is exceptional, quite simply”applauded her teammate Chloé Valentini.
Sweden as a habit. While the Swedish team has continued to progress in recent years, the Scandinavians do not really scare the Blues. Olivier Krumbholz’s players had already beaten them 29-27 in the semi-finals at the last Olympic Games. Before crushing them, again in the semi-finals, at the last world championship in 2023 (37-28). The Swedes, for their part, have never done better than fourth at the Olympics.