The U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams are not competing at the 2024 Olympics because they failed to qualify.
The U.S. (and all nations, for that matter) had two paths for Olympic Qualification: Either through the continental championship (The PANAM Games) or the World Championships. The simplest path, and one that the U.S. principally qualified through before, was winning the Handball Tournament at the PANAM Games. The other, more challenging path, would have been to place 1st or 2nd at an Olympic Qualification Tournament.
- How do nations qualify for the Olympics: Link
USA Men: The USA Men would have had to have won the handball competition at the 2023 PANAM Games. They finished in 4th place and lost to the eventual champion, Argentina, 28-14 in Pool Play and to runner-up, Brazil, 40-27. The U.S. Men could have also qualified for an Olympic Qualification Tourney if they had finished 2nd at the PANAM Games or 10th or higher at the 2023 World Championships. (The U.S. placed 20th) And, then at the Olympic Qualification Tourney they would have had to have finished 2nd out of the 4 team tournament they were assigned to.
USA Women: The USA Women have had to have won the handball competition at the 2019 PANAM Games. They failed to qualify for the PANAM Games, losing first to Canada in a 2 game series and then in a 2nd chance qualification tournament vs Uruguay and the Dominican Republic. Similar to the U.S. Men, the U.S. Women could have qualified via the 2023 World Championships if they had qualified for that event.