Víctor Tomás will be the eternal '8' of Barcelona handball

Víctor Tomás, photographed in the mixed zone of the Palau Blaugrana.Gianluca Battista

He discovered handball as a child, as his father had played and trained, and he decided that there was nothing better than a clothesline at home to start feinting.

Over the years, Víctor Tomás (Barcelona; 37 years old) evolved in his game and a camp at Camping La Siesta (Tarragona) organized by coach Valero Rivera brought him to Barça at cadet age.

Since then, he has never taken off his Barça shirt, a first-team player for 18 years, captain of the last eight and winner of 12 Asobal leagues, three Champions Leagues and five Super Globes, as well as an Olympic bronze, a World Cup gold and another bronze and a European silver with the selection.

But one day, suddenly, they told him that he had an abnormality in his heart and that he had run out of good things.

A very difficult drink to digest that he balled up,

although now he smiles because on the 30th of this month the club will remove his shirt in a tribute ceremony at the Palau after the game against Kiel.

“It is a very nice way to close the stage.

He needed it, ”he admits.

More than anything because Víctor Tomás' communion with the Palau was magnetic.

“It was a close and intense relationship.

Many people have seen themselves reflected in me, in a normal person who when I get off the track I interact with everyone, ”he says;

“And also because he was one of those who didn't give up, because if he saw that he didn't reach a ball he would throw me the same and if he broke my head, better.

We fed each other."

But to his misfortune, he never officially said goodbye, not even dressed in shorts.

The Barcelona doctors detected the anomaly in his heart in 2017, but they did not tell him anything because it was something that fell within the normal parameters of an elite athlete, even if they did have to monitor him.

"In 2018 he had evolved negatively and they put a Holter monitor on me to monitor my heart... Although they didn't give me any further explanations," he recounts.

Until 2019, when the atrioventricular block worried the doctor, who gave him the news: he couldn't force his heart every day.

At the end of the course, he should stop.

“The world turned black to me.

'At the end of which season do I have to retire?' I asked him, because it was fine, perfect.

I didn't understand it, ”he recalls.

Weeks later, on February 3, 2020, he announced his withdrawal after competitions.

But everything went wrong even more.

It turns out that the pandemic and confinement arrived.

"It was a very hard blow," he recounts;

“Because I had accepted the withdrawal although I would say goodbye little by little.

But one day I wake up and the league is over.

Another, and the Final Four is delayed a month.

Then until December… Then I realized that, without realizing it, I had already played the last game”.

So after the confinement, he sought professional help.

"Now I am fine.

I still think that if I train, I can play at a high level.

But I've accepted that I won't be able to do it anymore.

I am retired, ”he admits;

“And hanging my shirt at the Palau helps because as a member, fan and

, as well as my career, it's an honor and a privilege.

In this way, in addition, I will be able to teach my children the sports figure that I have been and, incidentally, I will tell them little stories”.

Although it will be difficult for him to do it from a handball court because he has never played again, perhaps a few shots with his son at home.

"I don't know if because since I've been at the highest level, it's a sport that I don't feel like playing to pass the time," she slides.

He doesn't have much time either, as he works at Barça as a professional sports manager, comments

handball matches for

, goes jogging and rides a bike, as well as being the husband of Hege and father of Luka (6 years old) and Mia (4 years old). ).

“I have tried to reinsert myself in the best possible way”, he explains;

“But when I play something I compete as always.

In paddle tennis I want to win, at chess against my six-year-old son, more of the same.

He is my competitive gene.”

That's why something is missing.

“Competitiveness because it is a drug that hooks.

Also those weeks before a difficult game, or the team atmosphere, belonging to something.

But if I stop and look back, I'm proud of my career.

Although I also think that I didn't enjoy it enough because watching the games from the outside I think that I could have squeezed a little more of those feelings that I will never experience again”.

But he will be able to savor his great night, dressed in short and with his family, also with his former classmates and friends.

"But I don't want to know what will be done because the surprise factor is lost," concludes the third athlete in the club's history with the most titles (69), only behind hockey goalkeeper Aitor Egurrola (78) and his former teammate David Barrufet (71).

And so, Víctor Tomás will be, forever, Barça's number 8.

You can follow EL PAÍS Deportes on