Goalball at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Goalball at the 2008 Summer Paralympics was held in the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium from September 7 to September 14. The competition consisted of men's and women's team events, and what had been billed as one of the most open tournaments certainly lived up to expectations.

Goalball
at the XIII Paralympic Games
Paralympic Goalball
VenueBeijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium
Dates7–14 September
2004
2012

In the women's gold medal game, the lead changed hands five times, with the USA outlasting China by a score of 6–5, with never more than one goal in it. The winning goal came from Asya Miller with less than a minute to go.

The gold medal in the men's game was even more dramatic. Lithuania, the current world champions, took advantage of a clutch of penalties in the first half to jump ahead of China by 6 goals to 2 at the half, and looked to be holding on despite a steady comeback. With only 50 seconds on the clock, the Chinese were two goals behind (6–8) but managed to overturn the deficit with three goals in 30 seconds to take the gold 9–8, sending the packed BIT Gymnasium into rapture.

Medalists

edit
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men   China (CHN)
Bao Daolei
Cai Changgui
Chen Liangliang
Du Jinran
Yang Chunhong
Yao Yongquan
  Lithuania (LTU)
Arvydas Juchna
Saulius Leonavicius
Nerijus Montvydas
Genrik Pavliukianec
Zydrunas Simkus
Marius Zibolis
  Sweden (SWE)
Mikael Akerberg
Jimmy Bjorkstrand
Stefan Gahne
Niklas Hultqvist
Oskar Kuus
Fatmir Seremeti
Women   United States (USA)
Jen Armbruster
Lisa Banta
Jackie Barnes
Jessie Lorenz
Asya Miller
Robin Theryoung
  China (CHN)
Chen Fengqing
Fan Feifei
Lin Shan
Wang Ruixue
Wang Shasha
Xu Juan
  Denmark (DEN)
Karina Jørgensen
Maria Larsen
Mette Nissen
Kamilla Ryding
Ninna Thomsen
Lykke Vedsted

Classification

edit

Players are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability. Visually impaired athletes in classes B1 through B3 can take part in goalball. Partially sighted players wear blindfolds so that they compete on equal terms with blind players.

Participating teams

edit

There were 12 men's teams and 8 women's teams taking part in this sport.

Men's

edit
  Slovenia
Gorazd Dolanc
Matej Ledinek
Dejan Pirc
Simon Podobnikar
Ivan Vinkler
Bostjan Vogrincic
  Lithuania
Arvydas Juchna
Saulius Leonavicius
Nerijus Montvydas
Genrik Pavliukianec
Zydrunas Simkus
Marius Zibolis
  Denmark
Mads Brix Baulund
Jonas Elkjaer
Peter Troels Hahnemann Weichel
Kenneth Hansen
Ricky Nielsen
Martin Pedersen
  Spain
Vicente Galiana
Jose Fernando Garcia
Raul Garcia
Jose Perez
Tomas Rubio
Jesus Nazaret Santana Guillen
  Finland
Veli-Matti Aittola
Toni Alenius
Jorma Kivinen
Jarno Mattila
Erkki Ilmari Miinala
Petri Kalevi Posio
  Belgium
Youssef Bihi
Vincent Buisseret
Johann Cyriel G. de Rick
Bruno Jan Vanhove
Danny van Eenooghe
Peter van Hout
  China
Bao Dao Lei
Cai Changgui
Chen Liang Liang
Du Jinran
Yao Yongquan
Yang Chunhong
  Canada
Mario Caron
Jeff Christy
Rob Christy
Bruno Hache
Dean Kozak
  Sweden
Mikael Bo Akerberg
Jimmy Bjorkstrand
Stefan Ingvar Gahne
Niklas Glenn Hultqvist
Oskar Kuus
Fatmir Seremeti
  Brazil
Alexsander Celente
Thiago Henrique Firmino da Costa
Legy Freire
Paulo Homem
Romário Marques
Luiz Silva Filho
  Iran
Seyed Rahmatollah Hosseini Moghadamkari
Behzad Jahangiri Ghavam
Javad Jalali
Mohsen Jalilvandshirkhanitabar
Seyed Mehdi Sayahi
Mohammad Soranji Estarki
  United States
Steve Denuyl
Chris Dodds
Tyler Merren
Donte Mickens
Edward Munro
Daryl Walker

Women's

edit
  China
Chen Fengqing
Fan Feifei
Lin Shan
Wang Ruixue
Wang Shasha
Xu Juan
  United States
Jen Armbruster
Lisa Banta
Jackie Barnes
Jessie Lorenz
Asya Miller
  Denmark
Kamilla Brady Ryding
Karina Jørgensen
Maria Larsen
Mette Praestegaard Nissen
Ninna Thomsen
Likke Vilstrup Vedsted
  Canada
Amy Alsop
Amy Kneebone
Annette Lisabeth
Nancy Morin
Shawna Ryan
Contessa Scott
  Sweden
Asa Alverstedt
Malin Gustavsson
Josefine Jalmestal
Maria Juliusson
Sofia Naesstrom
Anna Nilsson
  Brazil
Adriana Bonifácio Lino
Ana Carolina Duarte Ruas Custódio
Cláudia Paula Gonçalves de Amorim Oliveira
Simone Rocha
Neuzimar Santos
Luana Silva
  Japan
Akiko Adachi
Mieko Kato
Masae Komiya
Yuki Naoi
Tomoe Takada
Rie Urata
  Germany
Natalie Ball
Cornelia Dietz
Ina Fischer
Christiane Moller
Swetlana Otto
Stefanie Elfriede Schindler

Men's

edit

Competition format

edit

The twelve men's teams were divided into two even groups for a single round robin group stage. The top four teams of each group will advance to the quarter finals to compete for 1st through 8th place, while the last two teams of each group compete for 9th through 12th place. All matches in the second stage are knock-out format.

Group stage

edit
Qualified for the quarterfinals

Group A

edit
Team W L D PF PA PD
  Slovenia (SLO) 5 0 0 35 24 +11
  Lithuania (LTU) 4 1 0 50 18 +32
  Denmark (DEN) 2 2 1 29 26 +3
  Finland (FIN) 2 3 0 26 41 −15
  Belgium (BEL) 1 4 0 33 42 −9
  Spain (ESP) 0 4 1 20 42 −22
2008-09-07
Lithuania   9 – 5   Belgium
Denmark   2 – 2   Spain
Slovenia   7 – 2   Finland
2008-09-08
Finland   5 – 15   Lithuania
Slovenia   4 – 2   Denmark
Belgium   12 – 6   Spain
2008-09-09
Finland   4 – 11   Denmark
Lithuania   10 – 0   Spain
Belgium   5 – 6   Slovenia
2008-09-10
Spain   9 – 11   Slovenia
Finland   8 – 5   Belgium
Denmark   1 – 10   Lithuania
2008-09-11
Denmark   13 – 6   Belgium
Lithuania   6 – 7   Slovenia
Spain   3 – 7   Finland

Group B

edit
Team W L D PF PA PD
  China (CHN) 4 1 0 57 25 +32
  Sweden (SWE) 4 1 0 41 30 +11
  Canada (CAN) 2 3 0 27 30 −3
  United States (USA) 2 3 0 16 37 −21
  Iran (IRI) 2 3 0 29 34 −5
  Brazil (BRA) 1 4 0 25 39 −14
2008-09-07
Sweden   8 – 6   Brazil
Canada   9 – 5   Iran
United States   3 – 13   China
2008-09-08
China   13 – 8   Sweden
United States   2 – 8   Canada
Brazil   5 – 8   Iran
2008-09-09
China   11 – 2   Canada
Sweden   10 – 5   Iran
Brazil   4 – 6   United States
2008-09-10
Iran   3 – 4   United States
China   14 – 4   Brazil
Canada   5 – 6   Sweden
2008-09-11
Canada   3 – 6   Brazil
Sweden   9 – 1   United States
Iran   8 – 6   China

Tournament bracket

edit
Quarterfinals
(2008-09-12)
Semifinals
(2008-09-13)
Gold medal game
(2008-09-14)
         
1   Lithuania 10
8   Canada 0
  Lithuania 10
  Sweden 3
4   Sweden 4
5   Denmark 2
  Lithuania 8
  China 9
2   Slovenia 2
7   United States 4
  United States 0 Bronze medal game
  China 4
3   China 7   Sweden 5
6   Finland 6   United States 2

Classification rounds

edit

2008-09-12
11/12th classification

Spain   3 – 7   Brazil

2008-09-13
5-8th classification

Canada   6 - 5   Finland
Slovenia   4 - 6   Denmark

2008-09-14
7/8th classification

Slovenia   5 - 6   Finland

5/6th classification

Denmark   5 - 8   Canada

Women's

edit

Competition format

edit

The eight women's teams will play a single round robin tournament. The top four teams advance to the semi-final to compete for 1st through 4th place.

Preliminary stage

edit
Qualified for the semifinals
Team W D L PF PA PD
  China (CHN) 6 1 0 21 7 +14
  United States (USA) 4 2 1 18 11 +7
  Denmark (DEN) 4 2 1 13 9 +4
  Sweden (SWE) 3 1 3 30 27 +3
  Canada (CAN) 2 3 2 15 13 +2
  Brazil (BRA) 2 1 4 21 24 −3
  Japan (JPN) 2 0 5 8 16 −8
  Germany (GER) 0 0 7 8 27 −19
2008-09-07
China   5 – 3   Brazil
Canada   3 – 3   Sweden
United States   2 – 0   Japan
Denmark   4 – 1   Germany
2008-09-08
United States   2 – 0   Denmark
China   3 – 0   Germany
Brazil   6 – 5   Canada
Sweden   4 – 1   Japan
2008-09-09
Canada   3 – 0   Japan
Brazil   3 – 1   Germany
Sweden   1 – 2   Denmark
China   4 – 0   United States
2008-09-10
Germany   0 – 1   Canada
Japan   1 – 2   Denmark
Sweden   3 – 5   China
Brazil   2 – 2   United States
2008-09-11
Japan   1 – 3   China
Brazil   4 – 5   Sweden
Germany   0 – 4   United States
Canada   2 – 2   Denmark
2008-09-12
United States   1 – 1   Canada
Denmark   0 – 0   China
Japan   3 – 1   Brazil
Germany   5 – 10   Sweden
2008-09-13
Denmark   3 – 2   Brazil
Germany   1 – 2   Japan
United States   7 – 4   Sweden
Canada   0 – 1   China

Tournament bracket

edit
Semifinals Gold medal game
      
  United States 4
  Denmark 3
  United States 6
  China 5
  China 1 (3)
  Sweden 1 (2) Bronze medal game
  Denmark 3
  Sweden 2

China-Sweden PSC

References

edit
  • "Schedules and Results – Goalball". The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Archived from the original on 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
edit