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

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.

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

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

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

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

Men's

 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

 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

Competition format

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

Qualified for the quarterfinals

Group A

Team W L D PF PA PD
 Slovenia (SLO) 5003524+11
 Lithuania (LTU) 4105018+32
 Denmark (DEN) 2212926+3
 Finland (FIN) 2302641−15
 Belgium (BEL) 1403342−9
 Spain (ESP) 0412042−22
2008-09-07
Lithuania Lithuania9 – 5 Belgium
Denmark Denmark2 – 2 Spain
Slovenia Slovenia7 – 2 Finland
2008-09-08
Finland Finland5 – 15 Lithuania
Slovenia Slovenia4 – 2 Denmark
Belgium Belgium12 – 6 Spain
2008-09-09
Finland Finland4 – 11 Denmark
Lithuania Lithuania10 – 0 Spain
Belgium Belgium5 – 6 Slovenia
2008-09-10
Spain Spain9 – 11 Slovenia
Finland Finland8 – 5 Belgium
Denmark Denmark1 – 10 Lithuania
2008-09-11
Denmark Denmark13 – 6 Belgium
Lithuania Lithuania6 – 7 Slovenia
Spain Spain3 – 7 Finland

Group B

Team W L D PF PA PD
 China (CHN) 4105725+32
 Sweden (SWE) 4104130+11
 Canada (CAN) 2302730−3
 United States (USA) 2301637−21
 Iran (IRI) 2302934−5
 Brazil (BRA) 1402539−14
2008-09-07
Sweden Sweden8 – 6 Brazil
Canada Canada9 – 5 Iran
United States United States3 – 13 China
2008-09-08
China China13 – 8 Sweden
United States United States2 – 8 Canada
Brazil Brazil5 – 8 Iran
2008-09-09
China China11 – 2 Canada
Sweden Sweden10 – 5 Iran
Brazil Brazil4 – 6 United States
2008-09-10
Iran Iran3 – 4 United States
China China14 – 4 Brazil
Canada Canada5 – 6 Sweden
2008-09-11
Canada Canada3 – 6 Brazil
Sweden Sweden9 – 1 United States
Iran Iran8 – 6 China

Tournament bracket

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

2008-09-12
11/12th classification

Spain Spain3 – 7 Brazil

2008-09-13
5-8th classification

Canada Canada6 - 5 Finland
Slovenia Slovenia4 - 6 Denmark

2008-09-14
7/8th classification

Slovenia Slovenia5 - 6 Finland

5/6th classification

Denmark Denmark5 - 8 Canada

Women's

Competition format

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

Qualified for the semifinals
Team W D L PF PA PD
 China (CHN) 610217+14
 United States (USA) 4211811+7
 Denmark (DEN) 421139+4
 Sweden (SWE) 3133027+3
 Canada (CAN) 2321513+2
 Brazil (BRA) 2142124−3
 Japan (JPN) 205816−8
 Germany (GER) 007827−19
2008-09-07
China China5 – 3 Brazil
Canada Canada3 – 3 Sweden
United States United States2 – 0 Japan
Denmark Denmark4 – 1 Germany
2008-09-08
United States United States2 – 0 Denmark
China China3 – 0 Germany
Brazil Brazil6 – 5 Canada
Sweden Sweden4 – 1 Japan
2008-09-09
Canada Canada3 – 0 Japan
Brazil Brazil3 – 1 Germany
Sweden Sweden1 – 2 Denmark
China China4 – 0 United States
2008-09-10
Germany Germany0 – 1 Canada
Japan Japan1 – 2 Denmark
Sweden Sweden3 – 5 China
Brazil Brazil2 – 2 United States
2008-09-11
Japan Japan1 – 3 China
Brazil Brazil4 – 5 Sweden
Germany Germany0 – 4 United States
Canada Canada2 – 2 Denmark
2008-09-12
United States United States1 – 1 Canada
Denmark Denmark0 – 0 China
Japan Japan3 – 1 Brazil
Germany Germany5 – 10 Sweden
2008-09-13
Denmark Denmark3 – 2 Brazil
Germany Germany1 – 2 Japan
United States United States7 – 4 Sweden
Canada Canada0 – 1 China

Tournament bracket

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

    • "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.
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