Editor's note: This post contains spoilers. Don't want to know how the Norway-Brazil match turned out? Back away now.
LONDON — It's easy to look at the list of Olympic sports and have a little laugh. I mean, c'mon. Handball? Synchronized swimming? Trampoline? These are sports that barely enter the American sporting consciousness during the Olympics, let alone in the four long years between their turns on the world stage.
But here's the thing. For every one of these sports, there are countries that care deeply about them, where Olympic trampoline is like the World Series and something like the quarterfinals of women's handball is akin to the NFL playoffs.
So it is for the Norwegian fans packing the Copper Box, where the quarterfinals of the women's handball tournament are being played. The Norwegian women are four-time Olympics medalists and the current world champions, European champions and defending gold medal winners from Beijing. But thus far in the 2012 Summer Games, they've been far off their usual form, finishing fourth in their qualifying group and having to face Brazil, the top qualifier in the other group.
How bad has it been? Back home, the Norwegian papers were questioning the team's spirit and commitment.
And then things got worse.
Norway was simply blown off the court at the start of the game. Handball is a game of breathtaking athleticism and surprising brutality. As players try to approach the goal to score, they're bumped, pushed, shoved, grabbed and generally beaten to hell. Most of this is even legal under the rules of the game.
It's also a game of momentum and fast breaks, where it seems a team can run off goal after goal. And that's what Brazil did, building a 15-9 lead just four minutes into the second 30-minute half. It's looking like a rout. The Norwegian fans look like they've just been served some bad lutefisk.
Then things totally shift. Norway tears off a run of four unanswered goals. Then another run of four goals. When Norway completes the comeback to take a 19-18 lead, the crowds erupts in a roar punctuated by the ringing of cowbells. It has the feel of a rock concert and a downhill ski race all in one.
It's easy to scoff at these "fringe" sports. But remember, to most Norwegians, the NFL is about as relevant as say, well, handball is to people in the United States. That's too bad, because handball is awesome. I'm not the first to point this out, but if I could humbly ask you to check out handball in some way before it disappears in America for another four years, perhaps from the NBC streaming coverage, I think you'll be impressed.
It's super-fast and fun. They put resin on the ball to make it easier to throw and catch; you can hear the ball sticking to the floor ever so slightly when it bounces. Plus, there's the "jump-in-the-air-double-clutch-and-shoot" move that never, ever stops being completely cool. Seriously, check out these goals.
Norway holds on to win the game, 21-19. Afterward, there are tears of disbelief on both sides, Norway's from happiness and relief, Brazil's from shock and disappointment.
And in the time-honored tradition of all sports, great and small, the Norwegian players responded to their critics in the press, in a most unique way. At the end of the team's press conference, the entire team lifted their shirts. There on their stomachs were written the words, "NORGES LAGAND."
That means "Norwegian Team Morale" if you're not fluent in the language.
"This is a message of our players' solidarity," said Norway left winger Camilla Herrem, who scored the clenching goal. "This was to show the press who were highly critical that our morale is as high and indestructible as ever; we play together, we stay together."
