A gold medal for Jessica Ennis? Saw that one coming. Gold for Bradley Wiggins? Not surprised at all. Alistair Brownlee? Predicted it long ago.

But a gold medal for Britain's handball team? Never in my wildest dreams!

Britain was announced as the new Olympic champion, and "God Save the Queen" was played during a "medal" ''ceremony" at the London Olympics handball arena on Thursday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the host nation, it was just the rehearsal for the actual ceremonies after the handball finals this weekend, with volunteers replacing the players on the podium. For the record, Denmark "won" silver and Norway "took" bronze.

In reality, both Britain and Denmark failed to reach the semifinals of either the men's or the women's competition.

— Eric Willemsen — Twitter http://twitter.com/eWilmedia

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EDITOR'S NOTE — "Eyes on London" shows you the Olympics through the eyes of Associated Press journalists across the 2012 Olympic city and around the world. Follow them on Twitter where available with the handles listed after each item.