Impress your friends

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  Handball was first played in Scandinavia and Germany at the end of the 19th century, with the modern rules drawn up in Denmark in 1898

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  Handball made its Olympic debut at the Berlin 1936 Games, but did not reappear until 36 years later after a change in format

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  Men's handball returned to the Olympic Games as an indoor 7-a-side game at Munich 1972, with the women debuting 4 years later in Montreal

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  During the Moscow 1980 Games, Yugoslavia defeated Kuwait 44-10 in the men’s tournament, still the biggest winning margin in an Olympic handball game

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  Favourites Norway and the USSR were beaten by the unfancied Republic of Korea's women's team at Seoul 1988

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  Iceland surprised everyone at Beijing 2008, reaching the men's final before finally losing to France

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  Norway’s women won the last two Olympic gold medals – at London 2012 and Beijing 2008 – and will be a force to be reckoned with in Rio

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  In the men's event, France are the team to beat: they won golds in Beijing and London, and took a European and two world championships

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  On its Olympic debut at the Berlin 1936 Games, handball was an 11-a-side game played on large, outdoor pitches – it moved to indoor gyms to avoid Europe’s harsh winters

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  Handball is the second most-played sport in Europe and of the 22 countries to have won Olympic medals, the only non-Europeans are the Republic of Korea and China