Handball - Team Norway

General
Norway are making their second Olympic appearance at the Tokyo Games, having placed ninth on their debut in 1972 in Munich. They secured their place at Tokyo 2020 at the Men's Olympic Qualification Tournaments held in March 2021. Going unbeaten and finishing with a plus-40 goal difference over three matches in Tournament 1 of the event, Norway were never in danger of missing the Games in Japan.

In 13 appearances at the world championship between 1958 and 2011, Norway's best finish was sixth but in 2017 the team had a breakthrough year by reaching the tournament final. Although they lost 33-26 to France, they showed they were contenders and reached the final again at the 2019 World Championship, only to be beaten 31-22 by Denmark. The team exited at the quarterfinal stage in 2021 following defeat to Spain.

The Norwegians placed third at the 2020 European Championship, which was their first top-three finish in nine appearances at the tournament. The team had come close to a medal at the 2016 European Championship, but lost the third-place game 31-24 to Croatia.