Power ranking every single sport at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics
By Nick Villano
17. Handball
Handball answers the question, “What if Water Polo didn’t have water?”. Truthfully, we’re down for that. It has elements of basketball and the strategy of soccer/football. Then, there are the goals. Take the coolest goals of hockey, and just make it a ball and not a puck, and that’s what you have here. Shooting the ball while hanging in the air for a few seconds to freeze the goaltender. It makes for incredible highlights.
That’s what makes this game so thrilling and why this is such a fun Olympic sport to watch. Goalies can sometimes face 60 shots per game. There are absurd saves and breathtaking shots that hit the net. The speed of the game allows for amazing comebacks and some teams pouring it on, which is interesting in of itself.
Handball is not a popular sport outside of this one event. It’s just hard to find. It might not even be in the top 50 sports in the United States. It’s only a niche in certain high schools, where less popular sports usually get their due.
However, there’s an underdog story in handball that can impact the sport’s popularity in the U.S. We see these pivot points where high schools in the U.S. start adopting these sports more often. Bill Simmons wrote about handball back when he was with Grantland (owned by ESPN), and he made it sound intriguing. That’s because it is, and fans should absolutely watch this year, because it could be anyone’s (hand)ball game.