The Norway women’s handball team have taken a step closer to winning a third consecutive Olympic title by claiming the European crown and qualifying for the Rio 2016 Games. The Norwegian women were confirmed by the International Handball Federation (EHF) as the first team from their sport to guarantee their presence in the next Olympic Games by beating Spain in a closely fought final in Budapest on Sunday (21 December).

Despite trailing 12-10 at half-time to the London 2012 bronze medallists, Norway came back to win 28-25 and secure a sixth European title, bringing an end to the tournament that had been co-hosted by Hungary and Croatia. Linn-Kristin Koren was the Scandinavian team’s hero, scoring 10 goals in the decisive game.

Norway coach Thorir Hergeirsson said: “We’re really happy, we didn’t think that the title would be possible a few months ago, but we had this dream, we believed in it and worked hard every day for it. The players deserve all the praise. We had some difficulties in the first half, but we managed to fight back.”

Silje Solberg, who was elected goalkeeper of the tournament, played a crucial role in keeping Norway in the game and later praised the spirit of her team-mates.

“I didn’t expect anything from this championship and I am so proud that my team and I have made it so far,” she said. “We just had a faith in ourselves. We came back in the matches, never gave up and kept fighting, so I am proud.”

In addition to Norway and Brazil, the current world champions whose place is confirmed as host nation, a further 10 women’s teams will compete in the Rio 2016 Games. Six places will be decided at the Olympic qualifying tournament, three more at continental qualifiers and the last place will go to the winner of the 2015 world championship. The first men’s handball team will qualify via next year’s world championship, which will be staged between 15 January and 1 February in Qatar.

With 10 goals, Linn-Kristin Koren was Norway’s star player in the final (Photo: EHF/Uros Hocevar)

Rio2016.com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process. Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games). The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change. When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC). Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota.