Handball at the 2004 Summer Olympics — overview of handball practiced at the 2004 Olympic Summer Games
Handball at the 2004 Athens Olympics featured both men's and women's team competitions across two venues within the Attica coastal zone.
Key Facts
- Host city
- Athens, Greece
- Competitions held
- Men's and women's team handball
- Preliminary venue
- Sports Pavilion, Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex
- Later-stage venue
- Helliniko Olympic Indoor Arena
- Men's event Olympic debut
- 1936 Summer Olympics, Berlin
- Women's event Olympic debut
- 1976 Summer Olympics, Montreal
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Handball was established as a permanent Olympic discipline for men from the 1972 Munich Games onward, having first appeared outdoors at the 1936 Berlin Games, and for women from the 1976 Montreal Games onward, making both events fixtures at every subsequent Summer Olympics.
At the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, men's and women's handball tournaments were held, with preliminary rounds played at the Faliro Coastal Zone Sports Pavilion. Women's knockout stages moved to the Helliniko Olympic Indoor Arena, and men's semi-finals and final were also held there.
Both handball tournaments concluded at the Helliniko Olympic Indoor Arena, continuing the sport's unbroken Olympic presence and reinforcing Athens as a capable host for major indoor team sports on the global stage.