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A huge page in the life of the France team will be turned on Sunday, in the final of the Tokyo Olympics against Russia.
With unspeakable emotion.
Amandine Leynaud will indeed live on this occasion her 254th and last selection with the Blue.
The guardian of the temple decided, at the age of 35, to retire from the international scene.
A carefully considered choice.
An end clap that should even have occurred a year earlier, without the postponement of the Tokyo high mass due to a global pandemic.
What a long way for the 19-year-old goalkeeper who took her first steps with the French team in November 2005, during the Paris-Ile de France Tournament.
At the time, she was there to learn, in the shadow of Valérie Nicolas, the indisputable holder of the post.
But very quickly, despite its discreet character, it would become essential on, but also off the field ...
She manages to make the torrent calm down.
Olivier Krumbholz
Friday, after the qualification against Sweden in the semi-final (29-27), Olivier Krumbholz, the coach who launched it, paid him a superb tribute.
"
Amandine is certainly the wise man of this team. She has this very important distance that I try to have, but I'm not inside the group. She really has a decisive role in this group which is very bubbling. She has this hindsight and she manages to ensure that the torrent calms down and that we return to a normal flow on the relational level. The most important thing is who you are as a person, not who you are as a player. I insist because we are in a life course and we are even more aware of it with everything that is happening in the world today, with the Covid, and we are constantly trying to be beautiful people. And when you're also a great athlete, it's just the icing on the cake. Amandine is both,
unquestionably. "
We are sad and happy for her
Beatrice Edwige
An opinion shared by Béatrice Edwige: “
We are all very sad that she is leaving the France family. When Amandine speaks, everyone calms down. We have no choice, because she is like that. It is truly the voice of wisdom. She knew us all when we started out. So she knows all of our strong moments and the weaker ones. She all knows how to reassure us. But in itself, we are happy to be able to offer this new Olympic medal to “Doudou” (his nickname), because she deserves it. That's what she wants, to go now, so we let her go on new adventures. We are sad and happy for her, it is really a very ambivalent feeling
. " Before adding, with a smile: "
She is sure to have a medal but she is ambitious, she dreams of even more. But it will be up to her on Sunday to go and get her
. "
History to complete her formidable record with the only title she still lacks - she was world champion in 2017 and Europe in 2018 while collecting international podiums - she who had failed in the final in Rio five years ago against the same Russian team that they are about to meet at Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo. "
It was a struggle to be there, with a hen of death
," she confided.
We manage to get out of it by continuing to progress, remaining calm, serene. We showed our strength of character and the quality of our game. There is one final to play and it's too good.
“But on the fact that this will be his last match in Blue, the Ardéchoise prefers not to think about it too much. To preserve oneself, no doubt, mentally. "
I try to disregard it completely.
In each game, I told myself that maybe it was the last so there, yes, it will really be the last.
But I live it really well, I am very relaxed.
And then how could you dream better than to end up like this?
So, I don't want another one as my last game
. "
Last ramparts
And obviously, to go for gold, France will be able to count on its last bulwark.
Or rather his last ramparts with Cléopâtre Darleux, so much Leynaud has always made sure to follow in his wake of excellence his colleagues on the post.
"
I kept repeating it during my career, that in France we have exceptional goalkeepers. It's hard to say that for me because I'm in it, but whether it's Cléo, Laura (Glauser) or me, we have such different qualities that it's very complicated for the teams opposite. In this semi-final, I did not perform as in the quarterfinals but behind, Cléo was there and she stopped all the balls. It is only fun, I vibrated with it. And that corresponds to our collective. We are all very different but we complement each other.
"
“
A personality apart
”, as Krumbholz describes it, Amandine Leynaud has always made sharing and meeting her main driving force. Beyond, even, victories on the ground, as she had explained to us before these Games: “
The defeats, the victories, the multitude of people you meet on your way, with different characters and backgrounds… I was nourished by all that. This is something that I would not have had if I had not been in the France team, and if I had not done a team sport. It has enriched me so humanly. It is priceless to me. This is undoubtedly the thing, now that I am coming to the end of my career, that I am holding back more and more. Of course, the medals remain very important because they concretize the work done. But this life of sharing with people is just as extraordinary for me.
“Certainly, his retirement will leave a huge void in the France team. Sporty, but above all human. A golden person,whatever the outcome of this final will be.
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