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 Men Bao Daolei Cai Changgui Chen Liangliang Du Jinran Yang Chunhong Yao Yongquan Arvydas Juchna Saulius Leonavicius Nerijus Montvydas Genrik Pavliukianec Zydrunas Simkus Marius Zibolis Mikael Akerberg Jimmy Bjorkstrand Stefan Gahne Niklas Hultqvist Oskar Kuus Fatmir Seremeti Women Jen Armbruster Lisa Banta Jackie Barnes Jessie Lorenz Asya Miller Robin Theryoung Chen Fengqing Fan Feifei Lin Shan Wang Ruixue Wang Shasha Xu Juan 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 Gorazd Dolanc Matej Ledinek Dejan Pirc Simon Podobnikar Ivan Vinkler Bostjan VogrincicArvydas Juchna Saulius Leonavicius Nerijus Montvydas Genrik Pavliukianec Zydrunas Simkus Marius ZibolisMads Brix Baulund Jonas Elkjaer Peter Troels Hahnemann Weichel Kenneth Hansen Ricky Nielsen Martin PedersenVicente Galiana Jose Fernando Garcia Raul Garcia Jose Perez Tomas Rubio Jesus Nazaret Santana GuillenVeli-Matti Aittola Toni Alenius Jorma Kivinen Jarno Mattila Erkki Ilmari Miinala Petri Kalevi PosioYoussef Bihi Vincent Buisseret Johann Cyriel G. de Rick Bruno Jan Vanhove Danny van Eenooghe Peter van HoutBao Dao Lei Cai Changgui Chen Liang Liang Du Jinran Yao Yongquan Yang ChunhongMario Caron Jeff Christy Rob Christy Bruno Hache Dean KozakMikael Bo Akerberg Jimmy Bjorkstrand Stefan Ingvar Gahne Niklas Glenn Hultqvist Oskar Kuus Fatmir SeremetiAlexsander Celente Thiago Henrique Firmino da Costa Legy Freire Paulo Homem Romário Marques Luiz Silva Filho Seyed Rahmatollah Hosseini Moghadamkari Behzad Jahangiri Ghavam Javad Jalali Mohsen Jalilvandshirkhanitabar Seyed Mehdi Sayahi Mohammad Soranji EstarkiSteve Denuyl Chris Dodds Tyler Merren Donte Mickens Edward Munro Daryl Walker
Women's Chen Fengqing Fan Feifei Lin Shan Wang Ruixue Wang Shasha Xu JuanJen Armbruster Lisa Banta Jackie Barnes Jessie Lorenz Asya MillerKamilla Brady Ryding Karina Jørgensen Maria Larsen Mette Praestegaard Nissen Ninna Thomsen Likke Vilstrup VedstedAmy Alsop Amy Kneebone Annette Lisabeth Nancy Morin Shawna Ryan Contessa ScottAsa Alverstedt Malin Gustavsson Josefine Jalmestal Maria Juliusson Sofia Naesstrom Anna NilssonAdriana Bonifácio Lino Ana Carolina Duarte Ruas Custódio Cláudia Paula Gonçalves de Amorim Oliveira Simone Rocha Neuzimar Santos Luana SilvaAkiko Adachi Mieko Kato Masae Komiya Yuki Naoi Tomoe Takada Rie UrataNatalie 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 5 0 0 35 24 +11 4 1 0 50 18 +32 2 2 1 29 26 +3 2 3 0 26 41 −15 1 4 0 33 42 −9 0 4 1 20 42 −22
2008-09-07Lithuania 9 – 5 Denmark 2 – 2 Slovenia 7 – 2 2008-09-08Finland 5 – 15 Slovenia 4 – 2 Belgium 12 – 6 2008-09-09Finland 4 – 11 Lithuania 10 – 0 Belgium 5 – 6 2008-09-10Spain 9 – 11 Finland 8 – 5 Denmark 1 – 10 2008-09-11Denmark 13 – 6 Lithuania 6 – 7 Spain 3 – 7
Group B
Team 4 1 0 57 25 +32 4 1 0 41 30 +11 2 3 0 27 30 −3 2 3 0 16 37 −21 2 3 0 29 34 −5 1 4 0 25 39 −14
2008-09-07Sweden 8 – 6 Canada 9 – 5 United States 3 – 13 2008-09-08China 13 – 8 United States 2 – 8 Brazil 5 – 8 2008-09-09China 11 – 2 Sweden 10 – 5 Brazil 4 – 6 2008-09-10Iran 3 – 4 China 14 – 4 Canada 5 – 6 2008-09-11Canada 3 – 6 Sweden 9 – 1 Iran 8 – 6
Tournament bracket
Classification rounds
2008-09-12 11/12th classification Spain 3 – 7
2008-09-13 5-8th classification Canada 6 - 5 Slovenia 4 - 6
2008-09-14 7/8th classification Slovenia 5 - 6 5/6th classification Denmark 5 - 8
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 6 1 0 21 7 +14 4 2 1 18 11 +7 4 2 1 13 9 +4 3 1 3 30 27 +3 2 3 2 15 13 +2 2 1 4 21 24 −3 2 0 5 8 16 −8 0 0 7 8 27 −19
2008-09-07China 5 – 3 Canada 3 – 3 United States 2 – 0 Denmark 4 – 1 2008-09-08United States 2 – 0 China 3 – 0 Brazil 6 – 5 Sweden 4 – 1 2008-09-09Canada 3 – 0 Brazil 3 – 1 Sweden 1 – 2 China 4 – 0 2008-09-10Germany 0 – 1 Japan 1 – 2 Sweden 3 – 5 Brazil 2 – 2 2008-09-11Japan 1 – 3 Brazil 4 – 5 Germany 0 – 4 Canada 2 – 2 2008-09-12United States 1 – 1 Denmark 0 – 0 Japan 3 – 1 Germany 5 – 10 2008-09-13Denmark 3 – 2 Germany 1 – 2 United States 7 – 4 Canada 0 – 1
Tournament bracket
China-Sweden PSC
References
External links Official site of the 2008 Summer Paralympics The Audio Sports Network produced live audio broadcasts of every game of the tournament, and you can listen to the free mp3 audio archive by clicking on this link