He will have marked an entire generation. Nearly twenty-two years after his baptism of fire with the Blues in 2002, the boss is still there. Winner of his fourth Euro this Sunday after a breathtaking final against Denmark (33-31 ap) of his friend Mikkel Hansen – who stole the status of top scorer in the history of the Euro -, Nikola Karabatic entered a little more in the legend of French sport. He has in fact just added an 11th gold medal to his neck. A record. He is polite to his two former friends Thierry Omeyer and Michaël Guigou, whose tally remains stuck at ten international titles.
If he no longer occupies the leading roles in the French game, “Kara” knows how to bring his experience to the youth of Guillaume Gille’s men. An experience that the native of Niš, Serbia, acquired with numerous medals around his neck.
Karabatic won its first major trophy in 2006. A Euro… already. Until then, the French had not done better than fourth place in the competition despite two world titles in 1995 and 2001. With eleven goals against Spain in the final, the young Nikola Karabatic allowed the Strong to win this trophy who had always fled from them.
The hat-trick in 2009
Two years later, on August 24, 2008, in Beijing (China), the Karabatic gang won the first Olympic title for the French handball team. A final won 28-23 during which “Kara” scored eight times. In 2009, in Croatia, the native country of the Experts’ center-half’s father, the Blues scored a historic treble and won the third World Cup in their history. Already three trophies in four years for Karabatic.
Starved to death and surrounded by a golden generation, the French playing master went on to win a second Euro in 2010, in Austria. For the first time in the history of handball, a team is the reigning European, world and Olympic champion. A year later, they retained their world champion title, in a competition in which the Montpellier player was elected best player. 2012 will mark the historic double for the French team, the first team to retain its Olympic title. With of course Nikola Karabatic in his ranks.
A third Olympic title in Tokyo
Karabatic won its third Euro in 2014 against and at the eternal Danish rival. The following year, he won a third World Championship, then a fourth in 2017 at home. Forfeited for the 2021 World Cup at age 36, he returns to the France group to take his revenge against Denmark in the final of the Tokyo Olympic Games. In the Japanese capital, he won his tenth medal in blue.
This Sunday, in Cologne, Nikola Karabatic won his eleventh international medal in the Euro final against Denmark, that cannot be invented. A few months later, this summer, the French handball legend will be keen to win the Olympic Games for the fourth time. History of having a trophy cabinet that will please perfectionists with four Euros, four Worlds and three Olympics… This summer he could well add a new gold medal to his list of achievements.
Nikola Karabatic’s golden record in the French team:
4 European Championships in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2024.
4 World Championship victories in 2009, 2011, 2015 and 2017.
3 gold medals at the Olympic Games in 2008, 2012 and 2020.
