Olympic Handball 2016: Women's Team Medal Winners, Scores and Results

Russia reached the women's handball championship game at the 2016 Summer Olympics as the only team to navigate the entire event without a loss. Only France stood in its way of a perfect tournament and a gold medal after getting knocked out in the quarterfinals four years ago.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands and Norway each looked to bounce back from disappointing semifinal losses to earn a spot on the podium in the bronze-medal match. It was more of a mental battle than a physical one after both sides suffered crushing one-goal defeats in the penultimate round.

Let's check out all of the important details from Saturday's medal round, which will get updated following the conclusion of the title game. That's followed by a recap of the action.

Saturday's Schedule and Results

Medal	Matchup	Result/Time (ET)
Bronze	Netherlands vs. Norway	36-26 NOR
Gold	France vs. Russia	22-19 RUS

Bronze: Netherlands vs. Norway

Norway came out firing on all cylinders to build an early 9-2 lead in the first half and never looked back en route to a comfortable 36-26 victory to secure the bronze medal.

Nora Mork paced the Norwegians with seven goals in the contest. Stine Bredal Oftedal and Amanda Kurtovic each added six apiece. As a team, Norway converted on 69 percent of its shot attempts compared to 53 percent for the Netherlands.

The International Handball Federation noted there was at least one high-profile onlooker from Norway in attendance to watch the victory, too:

The Netherlands got back within five goals at a couple different points during the second half but could never close the gap any further.

Nycke Groot led the Dutch side with six goals but struggled with efficiency as it took 13 shots to find the net that many times. By comparison, Laura van der Heijden tallied five on seven shots and Yvette Broch scored four and five shots.

Although Norway won't be pleased it wasn't able to defend the title after capturing gold in both 2008 and 2012, it bounced back nicely Saturday to ensure it still earned a medal.

Gold: France vs. Russia

France put up a fight throughout the final, including twice cutting the lead to two in the game's final minutes, but the Russian squad was simply too good in the end as it completed an unbeaten run through the tournament to win the gold medal.

Olga Akopian played the role of hero for Russia in the latter stages of the match. She came up with a pair of clutch goals late as the French side tried to mount a late comeback in order to maintain the lead, which had grew to as large as four in the second half.

It was rarely easy for the champions throughout the tournament—only one win came by more than five goals—but they consistently found a way to win. That held true again on Sunday.

The Russian Olympic Committee spotlighted the celebration:

Anna Vyakhireva led the way with five goals. Daria Dmitrieva added four as did Polina Kuznetsova, who scored on all four of her attempts for a perfect day from the field.

Allison Pineau and Siraba Dembele each found the net five times for France. They both needed 10 shots to make it happen, however. A more efficient outing and perhaps they pull off an upset.

All told, in a tournament where close games were the name of the game, Russia played those big moments better than anybody else. Now it has a gold medal to show for it.