Scenes From Iceland's Handball Triumph

I was walking toward the mixed zone this evening when I ran into the first lady of Iceland. Dorrit Moussaieff asked me how she could get onto the playing surface, so that she could help celebrate her tiny country's stunning trip into the men's handball finals. I pointed her in the right direction, and told her I worked for The Washington Post. She told me she was friends with Katharine Graham. Then she tried to bring me onto the floor, where 14 large Icelandic men were glorying in the craziest athletic accomplishment in their country's history -- a 36-30 win over Spain in the Olympic semifinals.

"I don't think I can go this way," I said.

"Yes you can; if you're with me you can," she said, approaching the arena guard. "I'm the wife of the President; that's the President," she said, nodding at me while dragging me past the guard...

It's hard to explain just how monumental was Iceland's win over Spain was in today's men's handball semifinals. Spain--with more than 40 million residents--had probably played stronger than any team in the tournament. Iceland has 300,000 residents, and has never won Summer Olympic gold. And yet Iceland never trailed in a 36-30 win, and breezed into Sunday's final against France.

But that's too dry. When we asked Iceland's Sigfus Sigurdsson to explain what the scene would be like back home right now, he used the words "ape [bleep]" three times. That's more like it.

Iceland Elves CRUSH Spain, French Phokks next up for The Gold

Breaking News! Iceland Plays for Gold at Olympics

The Icelandic men’s handball team beat Spain 36-30 in the semi-finals in the Beijing Olympics at noon today. Iceland has now made it to the finals and will play France for the gold on Sunday.
Iceland has never made it this far in handball before. Although they’ve made it to the semi-finals in previous big tournaments, they have never brought home a medal.
Iceland was off for a fantastic start, leading 5-0 after only a few minutes after the game began. Spain tied 9-9, but then Iceland kicked back and re-achieved a difference of five goals. The first half finished 17-15 for Iceland, ruv.is reports.
Iceland remained the stronger team throughout the entire second half and constantly increased the score gap; at one point Iceland led with seven goals. Towards the end Spain put up an impressive fight, but Iceland managed to stay in the lead until the very end.
The Icelandic goalkeeper Björgvin Páll Gústavsson played brilliantly, deflecting 15 shots in total. The Icelandic defensive play was also impeccable. Gudjón Valur Sigurdsson and Logi Geirsson were the most successful shooters of the Icelandic team, scoring seven goals each.
The best player of the Spanish team was goalkeeper David Berrufet, who deflected 18 shots, five thereof from fast breaks.
The Icelandic handball team already has the silver secure, something which an Icelandic athlete has not achieved since Vilhjálmur Einarsson won the silver medal in triple jump at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.
In 1984, Bjarni Fridriksson won the bronze medal for Iceland in judo at the Olympics in Los Angeles, and in 2000, Vala Flosadóttir returned home with the bronze after placing third in pole vault at the Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
But no Icelandic athlete has ever won the gold at the Olympics.

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