Handball factbox for Athens 2004

ATHENS, July 9 (Reuters) -- Factbox on handball at the August 13-29 Athens Olympics:

HISTORY

Handball traces its roots back to games played by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The modern game developed in Germany, Sweden and Denmark in the early 20th century. The International Handball Federation was founded in 1946 and now has 150 members.

Handball was first played at the Olympics in Berlin in 1936 as an outdoor game with 11 men a side. The sport was then dropped until the next time Germany hosted the Games, in Munich in 1972, when it came back as a seven-a-side indoor game.

Women's handball joined the Olympics in 1976 at the Montreal Games.

EVENTS

Men's event (12 teams)

Women's event (10 teams)

2000 CHAMPIONS

Men: Russia

Women: Denmark

OLYMPIC PROGRAMME

August 14: Men's preliminaries

August 15: Women's preliminaries

August 16: Men's preliminaries

August 17: Women's preliminaries

August 18: Men's preliminaries

August 19: Women's preliminaries

August 20: Men's preliminaries

August 21: Women's preliminaries

August 22: Men's preliminaries

August 23: Women's preliminaries

August 24: Men's classification matches (ninth to 12th

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place)

Men's quarter-finals

August 26: Women's classification match (ninth and 10th

place)

Women's quarter-finals

August 27: Men's classification matches (fifth to eighth

place)

Men's semi-finals

Women's semi-finals

August 28: Women's classification matches (fifth to eighth

place)

Men's classification matches (fifth to eighth

place)

Women's bronze-medal match

Men's bronze-medal match

August 29: Women's classification matches (fifth to eighth

place)

Women's final

Men's final

VENUES

Preliminary games will be held at the Sports Pavilion in the

Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex to the west of Athens which

will have 8,019 seats.

Finals will be played in the Indoor Arena of the Hellenikon Olympic Complex at the old Athens airport. The arena has 13,631 seats.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

www.ihf.info

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