French handball player Nikola Karabatic, Olympic champion in Tokyo, August 7, 2021. FRANCK FIFE / AFP
“This season will be my last and I wanted to write to you. » Nikola Karabatic, 39, is going to retire, and here comes the definitive end of the most prolific period that French handball has known: that of the “Experts”, whose public had made idols. Triple Olympic champion (2008, 2012 and 2020) and titled four times at the Worlds (2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017), the player wanted to express his gratitude to the supporters in a letter sent by his club, the Paris Saint-Germain, Friday August 25.
Alongside Daniel Narcisse (311 caps, 943 goals), Thierry Omeyer (358 caps), Michaël Guigou (307 caps, 1,021 goals) or even Luc Abalo (289 caps, 859 goals), Nikola Karabatic (347 caps, 1,274 goals ) has built an incomparable track record and made France the flagship nation of handball.
Named best player in the world in 2007, 2014 and 2016 by the International Handball Federation (IHF), the eldest of the Karabatic brothers will play his “22nd and last professional year, in the colors of Paris Saint-Germain”. This ninth season with PSG is also the last chance to bring the club from the capital to a first crown in the Champions League, the objective when he arrived in Paris in 2015.
“Life sometimes gives us beautiful gifts. Like ending something where it all began, he says in the letter. It’s on the floor of this room, thirty-two years ago, trained by dad, with Luka [son frère, 35 ans, lui aussi joueur du Paris Saint-Germain et international français] always by my side, and mom to support me unconditionally, that my passion for handball and competition was born. »
The Olympics at “200%”
Selected for the first time in the France team at the age of 18, the native of Nis, in Serbia (ex-Yugoslavia), will have the opportunity to win a fourth Olympic title with the Blues, at home. “During all these years, I have given my heart and my soul to this sport that I love so much and that I respect more than anything. I engaged my mind and my body in this discipline which is so physically and mentally demanding”he recalls, adding that he will do everything to be at « 200 % » during the big deadline of the 2024 Paris Games.
Born winner, fighter, Nikola Karabatic has a sense of symbols and attitude. But despite his iron will and his application, the captain of the Blues has been the victim of several injuries in recent years, recalling that any colossus that he is (1 meter 96, 102 kilos), the more than twenty years of career have exhausted his body.
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In 2020, the PSG center half must face a serious injury for the first time in his career: a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the right knee, which keeps him away from the field for eight months, and punctuated by a thrombosis with pulmonary embolism contracted during his rehabilitation.
Reigning French champion with Paris Saint-Germain – for the eighth time in a row since his arrival in the capital – Nikola Karabatic will leave the scene after the 2024 Games. “Today, I start this final season on the court with joy. I will be able to savor one last time the unique atmospheres of French and European halls, play and fight alongside my teammates to win more titles. » “Kara” hopes to win, at 40, a fourth gold medal at the Olympic high mass and write a little more her name in the history of French handball.