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

Denmark won the gold medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics men's handball tournament Sunday, beating favourites France, 28-26.

Led by star scorer Mikkel Hansen, Denmark controlled the tempo of the match very well; and once they grabbed the lead, they never looked back.

Germany beat Poland to win the bronze earlier in the day. Here's a look at the final results:

Bronze-Medal Match	Germany	31-25	Poland
Gold-Medal Match	France	26-28	Denmark

Recap

Ben Curtis/Associated Press

France beat Denmark by four goals in the group stages and took an early lead once again in the final, living up to their status of gold-medal favourites.

Irish handball coach Tom O'Brannagain is a fan:

"

#FRA is 1 of the most beautiful #handball teams to watch The way they defend, the way they recycle in attack 2 find a solution is incroyable

— Tom Ó Brannagáin (@obrannt) August 21, 2016"

But while France impressed with their technique and build-up play, Denmark used raw power to keep up with their opponents and eventually take the lead. The scoring prowess of Hansen played a major role, as the star attacker scored no less than seven goals to lead his team to a 16-14 advantage at the break.

France started the second half well but still struggled to contain Hansen, and a quick sprint led by Casper Mortensen saw the Danes increase their lead to 22-19. That soon became a five-goal buffer, and professional gamer Jacob Toft-Andersen started getting excited:

France reduced the gap to just two goals with five minutes remaining, however, setting up a tense finale. But Denmark held their nerve, holding off the late comeback.

The Polish team started the match for the bronze well and ran out to an early lead, guided by the prolific Przemyslaw Krajewski, who scored three goals during the team's 8-5 run.

Defensively, Germany had a host of problems with Poland's physicality, but the side made the adjustments and starting playing at a faster pace to avoid duels in the centre of the field. With Uwe Gensheimer and Tobias Reichmann finding their range, Germany went on a strong mini-run to take the lead and a four-goal advantage they were desperate to defend.

It was noted by beIN Sports that the Germans were beating up on their rivals:

The Polish side struggled with turnovers and couldn't finish their one-on-one chances, and at half-time, they still faced a four-goal deficit, as Germany led, 17-13.

Ben Curtis/Associated Press

Poland bagged the first goal of the second half, but the Germans had no intention of dropping the pace and soon pushed their advantage even further. Reichmann scored his fifth goal of the contest to push the lead to five goals, and the European champions were in full control.

O'Brannagain did notice both teams were getting away with a lot of contact in the attacking third:

"

Once upon a time I thought I knew what an attacker foul was. Then I realised I only sometimes knew. Today I have no clue #POL #GER #handball

— Tom Ó Brannagáin (@obrannt) August 21, 2016"

Germany didn't care one bit, however, and as the second half wore on, Poland started to collapse. Reichmann continued his fine scoring performance, and his team-mates chipped in as well, pushing the score to 25-18 and all but ending Poland's hopes of completing an unlikely comeback.

Poland managed to bring the difference back to four goals, but another German mini-run took away any hope the team might have had left. The final score of 31-25 showed just how one-sided this bronze-medal match was.