How it unfolded
Coached by Daniel Costantini, this French national team was nicknamed Les Barjots, or the crazy ones, for its unruly, free-spirited character. After crushing Switzerland 27-18 in the semifinal, France beat Croatia 23-21 in the May 21 final in Reykjavik, Iceland, for France's first-ever major handball title. At the center of it was center back Jackson Richardson from Reunion Island, named IHF Player of the Year that season. The tournament's top scorer wasn't from either finalist, though — South Korea's Yoon Kyung-shin led with 86 goals. France had never before won an Olympic or world title, and handball was a minor sport at home. This win changed that status overnight. France won a second world title on home soil in 2001, then opened an era from 2008 to 2017 in which it swept three Olympic titles, four world titles and three European titles.
Why it still matters
Everything in French handball traces back to this match. After the win, national funding and a club development pipeline were put in place, building a talent pipeline in the south of France anchored around Montpellier, and the result was the generation of Nikola Karabatic and Thierry Omeyer. When Richardson won Olympic gold at age 39 in Beijing in 2008, it was also the completion of a thirteen-year project that had started in Reykjavik in 1995.