Handball at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament

The women's handball tournament at the 2012 Olympic Games in London was held from 28 July to 11 August. The preliminaries and quarter-finals were held at the Copper Box and the semi-finals and final took place at the Basketball Arena.

Twelve nations were represented in the tournament. The four best teams from each group advanced to a knockout round, while the 5th and 6th teams in each group were classified 9th–12th by the results of their group matches. Unlike in previous Olympics, there was no placement matches involving the losing teams of the quarterfinals.

Norway won the tournament and gold medal, beating Montenegro in the final. Montenegro's silver was the first Olympic medal for the country as an independent nation, and the country's only medal at the 2012 Games. Spain won the bronze medal.

Qualification

 * † Sweden qualified as 2010 European Championship runner up because Norway qualified as the 2011 World Champion.

Seeding
Before the draw the IHF seeded the teams in six pots. The draw for the groups was held on 30 May 2012.

Group A
 













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Group B
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Quarter-finals
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Semi-finals
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Bronze medal match
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Gold medal match
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All-star team
Chosen by team officials and IHF experts: IHF.info
 * Goalkeeper: 🇳🇴 Kari Aalvik Grimsbo
 * Left wing:  🇰🇷 Jo Hyo-bi
 * Left back:  🇲🇪 Bojana Popović
 * Central back: 🇪🇸 Marta Mangué
 * Right back: 🇲🇪 Katarina Bulatović
 * Right wing: 🇧🇷 Alexandra do Nascimento
 * Line player: 🇳🇴 Heidi Løke