The handball is a modern Olympic game formal event. The eleven-a-side outdoor game for men became an Olympic sport in Berlin in 1936, with the gold medal being won by Germany. The eleven-a-side form of the game did not reappear on the Olympic program after World War II and its popularity began to wane.

Because of the harsher climatic conditions, particularly in Scandinavia, a seven-a-side indoor game was developing with countries from Eastern Europe also quick to take up the indoor version.

The sport reappeared in the indoor form, once again for men only at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. The women's competition was introduced four years later in Montreal and both have remained on the Olympic program ever since.