How was your return to the club after the Olympics?
Nikola Karabatic:
We had a little less than two weeks of break between the moment we stopped and the moment we resumed with PSG. This is the maximum that the teams could have. It's already good. There are years when we haven't had a week so we're not going to complain. The recovery, at the beginning, was a little difficult (physically) even if it is much easier when you come back with a gold medal. I needed a week before the fatigue left.
You said you didn't realize after the final won against Denmark. Looking back, how do you live this third gold medal?
When I think back to the fact that we won the Games, I realize what a feat it is, the importance this medal has for the team and the French hand. It was an incredible adventure. At the individual level, after having had a year where I injured myself (rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the right knee in October, editor's note), the fact of being able to come back quickly, to play these Games and to win, it's just incredible. I have the feeling of having touched the Grail!
Do you plan to continue with the France team?
After the Games, I was asked the question but I wanted to savor first and I didn't want to think about it at all.
And Guillaume (Gille, the coach) called me last week.
We discussed it and I told him that I did not want to stop the France team for the moment.
We were on the same wavelength.
How do you see things?
It's season after season and taking stock.
But it's exactly the same for my end of career.
Firstly I have fun on the pitch, and secondly I have the feeling of being useful to the team and of having been good.
Nikola Karabatic
Are you still in discussions to extend with PSG?
I have one year of contract left and general manager Thierry Omeyer has contacted my agent. I expect a proposal from the club both at the sporting level and at the level of retraining.
Could participating in the Games in Paris be an objective, even if the handball tournament will take place not in Paris but near Lille?
For the moment, it is irrelevant to me. Three years is such a long time. I don't know where I'll be in three years. I'm going to do as I always do: I set myself challenges for the season. There, now, it is with PSG the resumption of the championship then with the French team, there will be the Euro in January (January 13-30 in Slovakia and Hungary, editor's note). And what's later, I don't even think about it because it's no use. I don't know where I will be at that point.
What still motivates you after all these years and these titles?
Firstly I have fun on the pitch, and secondly I have the feeling of being useful to the team and of having been good. I have this feeling with the feedback I have had from my teammates, coaches and my relatives. So all that, combined with my desire and the fact that I feel good physically, that my knee has recovered well, is what pushed me, in agreement with my family, to continue this season again. And then we'll see.
Helping PSG to win a first Champions League is one of your last goals?
My goals are always to win the next game. The next one is Istres (Friday 10th in Starligue) so that's my next challenge. If one day we manage to win the Champions League, of course I will be the happiest in the world but here we will start a new cycle with Paris Saint-Germain. Players have left, next year (2022-2023), there will be a renewal of players with Mikkel Hansen who will be leaving. We will see what it gives.