Its one of the few (4 or 5) events the US has never medaled in during the summer Olympics (Triathlon, Badminton, table tennis are the others). So I went and read about this sport, seems fast paced, high scoring, indoors. Right up American’s desires. So why has this not caught on?
Wish I had cable so I could see this played sounds interesting. Very bummed just found out CBC (ch 9 in Detroit) does not have the olympics CTV in Canada got it.
Because it looks like a silly knockoff of another sport? Dunno. I am amused by it. I Aldo liked the opening ceremony though so maybe I’m just weird…
Because it combines the worst of soccer & basketball. It seems like it would be fun, but after watching for 5 minutes, it looks horribly boring. This coming from a guy who played soccer for 30 years…
Well I guess I am not the only one to wonder this http://www.cbssports.com/olympics/blog/eye-on-olympics/19678334/handball-france-takes-out-norway-with-aggression
Found some of 2008 olypmics coverage on u-tube looked pretty cool to me.
Handball is in the Olympics but baseball is not…explain this one to me?
Handball is in the Olympics but baseball is not…explain this one to me?
Its not American Handball. Its very different.
Its one of the few (4 or 5) events the US has never metaled in during the summer Olympics (Triathlon, Badminton, table tennis are the others)///
I don’t know about our metaling, but pretty sure we have won “medals” in triathlon. Unless you do not count the women’s race for some reason.
Might actually have a chance with this kid
http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012/tabletennis/story/_/id/8208862/2012-summer-olympics-american-ariel-hsing-advances-table-tennis
.
Its one of the few (4 or 5) events the US has never metaled in during the summer Olympics (Triathlon, Badminton, table tennis are the others)///
I don’t know about our metaling, but pretty sure we have won “medals” in triathlon. Unless you do not count the women’s race for some reason.
damn spell check… well Here is the wiki answer… http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_Summer_Olympic_event_has_the_US_never_medaled_in … gee something on the internet is wrong.
I was told of an obscure rule stating that if the host country does not have a team of a certain sport, then that said sport cannot have a competition in the games. (Baseball I guess)
Not sure about this but it would explain a few things. They made up a handball team from bits and pieces and it is not a pretty sight.
Handball is a wonderful sport, such as baseball, if you know the subtleties and understand that it is an adrenaline jump and a foul-driven sport (fouls are part of the game and commonly accepted with strategies built upon). The aggressiveness of the offense and the defense can be very intense and overwhelming at times with k.o’s and concussions (I guess they are the same in a way).
Everyone plays attack and pulls back to help. It is a great sport to learn team values and how to pull in the same direction. There is no break, it is back and forth at a frantic pace with running and jumping all around.
Maybe it will pick up in the States but the sport lives quite well without so far.
The elite is a small club the way hockey is but it might grow like soccer did (albeit slowly).
I was told of an obscure rule stating that if the host country does not have a team of a certain sport, then that said sport cannot have a competition in the games. (Baseball I guess)
Not sure about this but it would explain a few things. They made up a handball team from bits and pieces and it is not a pretty sight.
Handball is a wonderful sport, such as baseball, if you know the subtleties and understand that it is an adrenaline jump and a foul-driven sport (fouls are part of the game and commonly accepted with strategies built upon). The aggressiveness of the offense and the defense can be very intense and overwhelming at times with k.o’s and concussions (I guess they are the same in a way).
Everyone plays attack and pulls back to help. It is a great sport to learn team values and how to pull in the same direction. There is no break, it is back and forth at a frantic pace with running and jumping all around.
Maybe it will pick up in the States but the sport lives quite well without so far.
The elite is a small club the way hockey is but it might grow like soccer did (albeit slowly).
Baseball and softball were voted out back in 2005 (took effect for this year) 2 new sports were added starting in 2012.
Interesting comments about handball. Are their leagues in the states? wondering if there is someplace to go see this live.
Why is hand ball cool? It is fast, hard and a lot of contact. It is popular for both women and men.
Check out this penalty shoot, the shooter is 15 by the way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R15PooIZA5A
I have played handball, had a lot of fun, broke my nose, two fingers and split my lip. All fun
I would rather watch this then baseball and I played baseball for 15 years.
How about that event where they run and shoot a pistol? We’ve got more people doing that than anywhere in he world. We should be great at it!
It’s awesome. I went and watched it in Beijing. Was wicked. It’s basically - as far as I can tell - like water polo without the water…
There is no break, it is back and forth at a frantic pace with running and jumping all around.
There’s your answer right there. Nowhere to fit in commercial breaks! 
I got to watch it in Atlanta, yes way back in 1996, I described it the same as Jordan, waterpolo without the water. When we received our pack of tickets, we thought what in the heck is this, but went in with an open mind, and really enjoyed the matches we saw.
I played team handball competitively(internationally) my freshman year in high school and middle school before my family moved. Our coach was a former handball olympian, and we were a traveling club team with a few hopefuls to make the jr. olympic team. The sport is somewhat widely still played in Georgia, but I assume most club teams start with former olympic players as coaches to introduce the game. The land version of water polo is an apt description of the sport, but I usually refer to it as a weird hybrid of soccer and basketball.
I have a few reasons as to why it has not caught on.
There is a 7meter boundary line that belongs to the goalie that players cannot cross, which somewhat requires a dedicated space or leaving tape or paint on the ground.
Like triathlon, many handball players are non-elite from more popular sports i.e. basketball, football, soccer, and baseball.
It started in Europe and is not popular enough there to be popular in America.
You can’t play it in your backyard or with just a few people.
The rules are quite contrary to popular u.s. sports
Sweden vs Norway in the ladies tournament tonight at 9.15 local time.
Its one of the few (4 or 5) events the US has never medaled in during the summer Olympics (Triathlon, Badminton, table tennis are the others). So I went and read about this sport, seems fast paced, high scoring, indoors. Right up American’s desires. So why has this not caught on?
Wish I had cable so I could see this played sounds interesting. Very bummed just found out CBC (ch 9 in Detroit) does not have the olympics CTV in Canada got it.
So a match over the weekend. Found it incredibly boring.