Olympics-Handball-France ruin Iceland's dream of gold

BEIJING (Reuters) - France's handball players crushed Icelandic dreams of a first-ever Olympic gold medal with a 28-23 victory in a blistering men's final on Sunday.

The game's frenetic rhythm was set when French right back Cedric Burdet scored the first goal after only 40 seconds and Iceland retaliated a minute later.

"We had a plan. We decided to make them suffer in the first twenty minutes so they would fall from the cloud they were riding since the start of the tournament," said French coach Claude Onesta. "It was done pretty quickly."

Iceland displayed the perfect teamwork that is typical of the close-knit side -- some of the players have known each other for more than a decade and the team locks hands for a Viking pledge to "win or die" before each game.

Their handball success has fired up the entire nation of 300,000 people and, if the players are to be believed, the elves that are said to dwell in the island's rocks and cliffs.

"The whole nation was watching this game. And it will be really, really fun to get back in two days and see the reaction," centre back Snorri Stein Gudjonsson said after the match, a silver medal dangling from his neck.

But Iceland's top scorers looked nervous at times and missed several opportunities for goal, allowing the French hot-shots to race ahead. Spain won the bronze.

Iceland's captain Olafur Stefansson had a look of despair on his face as France led by 14-7 at one point in the first half.

France topped the first half 15-10, helped by Burdet and the formidable Nikola Karabatic.

They held on to the lead in the second half despite a series of beautiful goals from opponents such as Logi Geirsson, who was given a back massage by Iceland's first lady a few days before the game.

Players grabbed each others shirts, collided mid-air and collapsed in a heap on the floor in a battle where every goal counted.

Iceland's players can console themselves with the thought that their silver is likely to let the entire island erupt in fireworks.

"When the game is on, everything is shut down. That's just amazing," player Robert Gunnarsson told reporters.

Until Beijing, Iceland's best Olympic performance was a silver by Vilhjalmur Einarson in the men's triple jump in 1956.

(Additional reporting by Simon Rabinovitch and Jean-Paul Couret; Editing by Jon Bramley and Ralph Gowling)