<p>From double silver to double gold.</p>.<p>France won the women's handball gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday to become the first country in 37 years to win both men's and women's tournaments — five years after losing both finals.</p>.<p>France beat the Russian team 30-25 in the women's final with the men's players cheering on a day after they beat Denmark. Both finals were rematches from 2016.</p>.<p>The score was level at 16-16 midway through the second half before France scored six unanswered goals and had a string of saves by goalkeeper Cleopatre Darleux. Pauletta Foppa and Allison Pineau had seven goals each, and so did Russian player Polina Vedekhina.</p>.<p>Darleux's finished with nine saves off 21 shots and the other French goalkeeper, Amandine Leynaud, had three off 15. The Russian team's goalkeepers combined for five off 35.</p>.<p>France is the first country to win both handball events at the same Olympics since Yugoslavia at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.</p>.<p>Even reaching the final was an achievement for the Russians after failing to win either of their first two games of the tournament — a tie with Brazil and 12-goal loss to Sweden — amid vocal criticism from the former coach who won gold in 2016.</p>.<p>Former coach Evgeny Trefilov was in the stands throughout the tournament in a “consultant” role after stepping down in 2019 for health reasons. Early in the tournament he even called out his own instructions, complicating matters for the coaching team on the sidelines.</p>.<p>Norway matched its women’s bronze from 2016 with a 36-19 win over Sweden. Nora Mork and Kari Brattset Dale scored eight goals each.</p>
<p>From double silver to double gold.</p>.<p>France won the women's handball gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday to become the first country in 37 years to win both men's and women's tournaments — five years after losing both finals.</p>.<p>France beat the Russian team 30-25 in the women's final with the men's players cheering on a day after they beat Denmark. Both finals were rematches from 2016.</p>.<p>The score was level at 16-16 midway through the second half before France scored six unanswered goals and had a string of saves by goalkeeper Cleopatre Darleux. Pauletta Foppa and Allison Pineau had seven goals each, and so did Russian player Polina Vedekhina.</p>.<p>Darleux's finished with nine saves off 21 shots and the other French goalkeeper, Amandine Leynaud, had three off 15. The Russian team's goalkeepers combined for five off 35.</p>.<p>France is the first country to win both handball events at the same Olympics since Yugoslavia at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.</p>.<p>Even reaching the final was an achievement for the Russians after failing to win either of their first two games of the tournament — a tie with Brazil and 12-goal loss to Sweden — amid vocal criticism from the former coach who won gold in 2016.</p>.<p>Former coach Evgeny Trefilov was in the stands throughout the tournament in a “consultant” role after stepping down in 2019 for health reasons. Early in the tournament he even called out his own instructions, complicating matters for the coaching team on the sidelines.</p>.<p>Norway matched its women’s bronze from 2016 with a 36-19 win over Sweden. Nora Mork and Kari Brattset Dale scored eight goals each.</p>