Korean handball players' uniforms at the 1988 Olympics
The South Korea women's national handball team is the national team of South Korea. Since 1984 the Korean team has not only participated constantly in Olympic Games but also ranked among the top four nations every time until 2012. Korea grabbed the gold medal in 1988 and 1992, won the silver medal in 1984, 1996, 2004 and took bronze medal in 2008. They have earned two World Championship medals so far: In 1995, they also won the World Championship title in Austria/Hungary 1995 World Women's Handball Championship, they came off third to secure the bronze medal at the Croatia in 2003 World Women's Handball Championship. It is a twelve time Asian Champion, the tournament has been won by any other nation only twice.
Both the men's and women's and children's teams failed to qualify in the regional qualifiers for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in 2007 August due to the biased refereeing, but the International Handball Federation ordered replays of both qualifying tournaments after acknowledging biased officiating by Middle Eastern referees. South Korea beat Japan in both the men's and women's matches and qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 January. However, the Executive Committee of the Kuwait-based federation, which had rejected the International Handball Federation's ruling to hold the replays, agreed to fine Japan and South Korea $1,000 and issued a warning to both countries. In addition, the Asian Handball Federation appealed the IHF's decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which ruled the Asian women's qualification invalid and forced the Korean ladies to play in the final Olympic qualifying tournament. The replay was decided to be invalid by the Court. The Korean women's team earned their ticket to the Beijing Olympics at the Olympic qualifying game held at Nîmes, France.
In the semi-final match of 2008 Beijing Olympic games with Norway, Norway's deciding goal was requested to be annulled by the Korean delegation, because they claimed the ball had not crossed the goal line before the end whistle of the game. Korea's appeal was turned down by the IHF's Disciplinary Commission, confirming the end result to be 29–28 in favor of Norway.[1]
The 2008 film Forever the Moment is a fictionalized account of the teams' journey to the 2004 Athens Olympics.
