Thierry, how did you come up with the desire to write a book?
Thierry Omeyer:
I have been asked a number of times during the last years of my career to write a book on my journey.
At first, it didn't appeal to me because I wanted to focus on the game. But the idea caught on in me and when my career ended, I wanted to go for it because I wanted to explain how I had operated throughout my career.
I also wanted to describe what this goalkeeper position was so specific in handball, and in sport in general.
It was important for me to share my feelings about this role, to explain how it made me grow, how I had progressed over time… And then more selfishly, I also wanted leave a little trace of everything I had done during my career for my family and friends.
In the book you say at one point, “Goalkeeper is my whole life. It's me." Does this mean that you could not have progressed to another position?
Yes, goalkeeper suited me perfectly.
It's a job where you have to be very demanding, where you have to be constantly questioning and looking for a perfection that you will never achieve.
I've always been a perfectionist and that's why I found myself in it completely.
I have always found the necessary springs to keep moving forward.
Even when I came out of a pretty good game on my part, I still looked at all those goals I conceded to see what I could improve.
Although sometimes it was very frustrating because the majority of saves are played within a tenth of a second.
Finally, it is a position that involves strong responsibilities, which pushed me to look for things deep inside me to surpass myself.
“When I saw myself jumping after a stop or when I looked at the expression on my face after certain stops, I felt like I was seeing someone else.”
Have you surprised yourself humanly on this post? You seem to have discovered a more outgoing Thierry there…
Yes, I have evolved.
It allowed me to improve myself.
At the start of my career, I didn't have that extrovert side.
I didn't have that “presence” on the pitch, which went beyond just making saves.
Over time, I learned to develop it, by playing with the public, by haranguing my teammates, by challenging my opponents… It took an important place in my game and it was beneficial to me because the days when I was worse, where I made fewer stops, I could bring something else.
Sometimes, no matter how many stops you make, you still have to show that you're there.
You confide that at times, reviewing the images of such and such a match, you do not recognize yourself…
It's true that it happened to me (smile).
When I saw myself jumping after a stop or when I looked at the expression on my face after certain stops, I felt like I was seeing someone else.
It's so opposite to who I am in everyday life, which is someone who is quite calm and quiet.
It also happens to me to get angry but it has nothing to do with the goalkeeper that I was on a field.
In a way, I transcended myself.
Did your children Manon and Loris recognize you?
Yes, they had gotten used to it.
My daughter, who is 18 today, has lived through a large part of my career and it was natural for her.
She knew her daddy was different when he was in the field (laughs).
And then I think they also vibrated with me.
"In card games, I was always blaming someone else."
Another very marked character trait with you is your desire to always win. In the book, you even cite a match against amateurs where you absolutely wanted to not take a goal for a whole period ...
It reflects that competitive side that I had in any game. The episode you are talking about was a preparation match against a team from the 5th German division and I got caught up in the game. I always had to set myself small challenges.
Before the match, I had not said that to myself because it seemed impossible.
And then over the minutes and my stops, I got in and it ended with a 23-0 at the break.
Regardless of the opponent, my requirement was there all the time.
You imply that this competitive spirit was probably born from your relationship with your twin brother Christian…
Yes, it came from our relationship.
There was always some kind of challenge between the two of us when we were young.
We often looked for each other and loved to play together.
Besides, it was great because I always had someone my age to play table tennis with me in the garden or whatever.
But since we both wanted to win, it was sometimes tense (smile).
And even today, if we play a tennis match, immediately, the competitive spirit returns to gallop.
I think it has really served me in my career.
Great phrase from the book, you finally admit that you could “sometimes be in bad faith”, which all your former teammates have always emphasized…
(laughs) Yes, of course.
In high performance sport, we all are at one point or another.
Now be careful, every time I was in bad faith I knew it (smile).
In training, when a player started scoring a lot of goals for me, I would tell him that he was shooting too close.
In card games, I was always blaming someone else.
But behind, I was able to analyze the real reasons for my defeat or my bad match.
Except that I kept them to myself.
Deep down, I never blamed my defense but my own performance.
I always told myself that I should have been able to make those two or three extra saves that would have allowed my defense to get back into it.
It is also the role of a guardian to achieve two or three feats which will give confidence to the whole collective.
"I love to play football, but not too much in goal."
You also say that you take "every goal conceded as a failure". Why not have played football in this case?
I love to play soccer, but not too much in goal (smile).
Goalkeeper in football is totally different.
Some will have nothing to do for 88 minutes and suddenly they will have to make the stop that saves their team.
It's very complicated to stay focused, to keep that confidence which, in the hand, comes as you make stops.
Personally, I liked the fact of being called upon all the time, of having this responsibility.
In both cases, the role of the goalkeeper is fundamental but in football, it can be played on a single save while in hand, it will be played on many more stops.
You talk about those moments when you "stop everything", where you "see everything", as if you were on a cloud, in a daze ...
It is this state of grace that we seek to achieve in each match.
But there are so many factors that allow you to enter it or not.
Often this is played at the start of the game.
The first two-three shots are essential in the construction of the goalkeeper match.
Immediately, it gives you confidence and it puts doubt in the opponents.
Behind, it can follow on this type of daze.
Despite your career, you also state that you “never felt safe” in the France team, as if you were never sure of being selected, which seems incredible…
Yes, but it is a selection and each time, you had to deserve to be there.
Of course, at one point, you become an executive player, but you are never safe from missing your match, your competition and that behind a youngster comes and supplants you.
I have always considered that if I was less good, I would take the risk of losing my place.
I never told myself that my automatic selection, that because my name was Thierry Omeyer, I had to play.
Have you always had this humility or at times in your career, with hindsight, you almost took a big head?
(Hesitates) I don't reason like that.
I always felt the need to prove, first of all to myself.
When I was voted best player in the world in 2008, it was the most prestigious honor I could have.
But behind, I didn't tell myself that's it, I was definitely the best.
Obviously, it gives me enormous confidence and great satisfaction to be recognized for my performances, which I had always sought.
Except that this status, it must be confirmed again and again.
I didn't want it to be just a flash in the pan.
Besides, my best year, I think it was in 2009.
“Claude understood my personality quite quickly. He knew how to talk to me to sting me and find the right words so that behind me to perform. ”
Two people come back often in the book. The first is Bruno Martini, who was your teammate in Blue and in clubs, and who is now your manager in the PSG organization chart…
I have always admired the goalkeepers of the France team and Bruno made it happen. obviously gone.
Behind, I had the chance to play with him and learn alongside him.
We were in competition, but I always thought it was more about emulation.
From the start, there was great respect between us.
And today, to continue to rub shoulders with him on a daily basis at PSG, it's a lot of fun.
It gives us a lot of common adventures.
And then there is Claude Onesta. You define your relationship with him as "special". Is this the one that will have marked you the most?
Yes.
I spent fifteen years under his command in the France team and it was with him that I became number 1. We had a strong relationship which has been strengthened over the years, especially at the end with this captain's post that he gave me.
He always knew how to find the words.
He told me before the 2008 Olympics that he wanted me to play like in Kiel, because he saw me on a daily basis as a consultant.
It had marked me, especially at Euro 2006, he had given me great responsibilities, which was the first time for me in selection.
Is this the one who knew best how to sting you?
Yes, clearly.
He understood my personality quite quickly.
He knew how to talk to me to sting me and find the right words so that behind me be efficient.
Obviously, there is always this example from before the semi-final of the 2011 World Cup against Sweden, where he showed me a Swedish article which roughly stated that I was finished.
The match, suddenly, I was ready to play it direct.
I didn't even need to warm up (laughs).
"In the France team, I had to wait until I was 38 to score my first goal."
Daniel Narcisse gave you the nickname "Titipedia" (in reference to the Wikipedia site). How do you remember everything?
I have a really good memory I think, which helps when you're a goalie.
I have a specific example: when I was in Montpellier, an assistant coach noted all the stats, especially my number of stops.
We were just coming out of a match in Velenje and I had made 26 saves.
Except that he, the next day, he told me that he had noted 24. I then told him that he was wrong and behind, I was able, without having seen the match, to quote him. In order, my 26 saves, on which opponent, what impact… So sometimes, it's easier when you come out of a game with five stops (laughs).
You confide that at 37 years old, despite the longevity of your career, you experienced your first penalty shootout. It means you've always discovered new things, even after 15 years on the pitch…
Yes, until the end of my career I had this feeling that I could learn things and improve myself.
It's true that penalty shoot-outs are not very common in handball and I had to wait a long time to experience one.
But it was nice to experience one, especially since we had won it (smile).
You have also discovered the pleasure of scoring goals with the rule allowing you to take out the goalkeeper to evolve into an additional fielder…
Yes, it's true.
In the French team, I had to wait until I was 38 to score my first goal.
It is an exercise which was not easy to grasp, which required training.
Today, it is an additional weapon to have a goalkeeper capable of scoring from his own goal.
Me, I thought I was pretty good on long raises for the wingers but on the other hand, I had trouble shooting straight.
I was putting too much pressure on myself because I wanted so much to score my goal (laughs).
The pleasure of scoring has always been there.
I remember a match against Saint-Raphaël where I had a 4 out of 4, I was like crazy.
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