Iceland Is So Hot Right Now

Even after watching handball several times throughout the Games, we still aren’t entirely certain what the rules are -- aside from the objective, which is to throw the ball into the net. When this occurs, your team gets a point. Score more points than the other team, and you win. And that’s exactly what Iceland did today when it beat Spain 36-30 in a handball shocker that will be the biggest thing to rock the entire continent of Europe since Las Ketchup. From Steinz at the D.C. Sports Bog, who witnessed this momentous upset:

"I think this is the biggest moment in Icelandic sport history." - Iceland President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson.

When we asked Iceland's Sigfus Sigurdsson to explain what the scene would be like back home right now, he used the words "ape [bleep]" three times. That's more like it.

"It's not just a message for us in Iceland. I think it's a message to the entire international sport movement, that anything is possible. You can have young guys growing up in a small country like Iceland. Working hard in their employment, using their spare time to train. And they can come here to China and play the finals. And return to Iceland, each and every one of them, with either silver or gold.

Now that, friends, is the embodiment of what the Olympics are all about. An underdog team from a country with a population equivalent to Topeka, Kansas and an unhealthy love of post-rock soundscapes goes on to win a medal in a sport that 95% of the world has never heard of. I love these Games.

So, tomorrow, when you’re glued to the men’s handball finals between Iceland and France, now you have a team to root for. (As if you wouldn’t automatically root for whoever is playing France, anyway.) And if you needed another reason to cheer on the Icelanders, consider this quote from one of their stars, Gudjon Valur Sigurdsson, when asked about his homeland’s magic elves that Americans have heard so much about:

"Ahhh, yah yah, yah yah. Some people say they live inside the mountains. Some people believe it, some people don't. I mean, I don't care. But if we win a medal, I'm pretty sure they will celebrate with us.

Magic elves, man. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a flight to Reykjavík to book.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.