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Golden-framed comeback Denmark women defend team handball goldLatest: Sunday October 08, 2000 05:53 PM
SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- Denmark defeated Hungary 31-27 in the women's handball final on Sunday to capture its second consecutive gold medal. Denmark rallied from a six-goal deficit to defend the gold medal it won in Atlanta in 1996. Katrine Fruelund's goal tied the game at 23-23 with 9:40 left, before Camilla Andersen and Anette Hoffmann-Moberg took over and bewitched the Hungarian defense. After Andersen scored to make it 28-26, Hoffmann-Moberg stole the ball and scored on the fast break to put the match away. Hoffmann-Moberg led Denmark with 11 goals and Andersen added seven. Bojana Radulovic scored nine goals for Hungary, which had its best Olympic handball showing with the silver.
Mia Hundvin scored the winner with 1:23 left to give Norway the bronze medal with a 22-21 victory over South Korea. Hundvin, who finished with two goals, floated a soft lob over goalkeeper Oh Yong-ran from her position on the left wing to secure Norway's bronze. Park Chung-hee's attempt to tie the game on a fast break was saved by Heidi Tjugum and Norway had the bronze. Tjugum, the Norwegian captain, had an outstanding performance, saving 17 of 37 shots. South Korea led 13-12 at halftime and scored twice more at the start of the second period for a three-goal lead. Norway pulled even on a goal by Kristine Duvholt with 20 minutes left, and no team ever led by more than a goal again. Oh Seong-ok, who led South Korea with seven goals, gave her team a 20-19 lead with 7:21 left, but Kjersti Grini scored two straight goals to put Norway ahead for good. Grini finished with seven goals. "This was the most incredible victory ever," Grini said. "I never thought we'd be able to fight back, but we did. "I didn't know a bronze medal in the Olympics tasted this well. I am so glad we didn't finish fourth again." Norway, the world champion, lost to South Korea in two Olympic finals, in 1988 and 1992, when South Korea won gold. The same four teams that made the final four in Atlanta also did it here. Denmark, South Korea, Hungary and Norway finished in that order in 1996. "We never thought of fourth place as an option," said Norway's coach Marit Breivik. "They never gave us a break, we had to toil on the court today. The intensity of the match says something about our will to win." South Korea dropped out of the medals after winning gold in 1988 and 1992 and claiming the silver in 1996. "We had our doubts and regrets, but we did our best," said coach Koh Byung-hoon. "We showed our standard to the whole world today." Hungary also won a bronze in 1976, the year women's handball became an Olympic sport. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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