As a child, he did everything possible to achieve his goal: to become the best handball player in the world, as quickly as possible. A few decades later, his childhood dream largely fulfilled, Nikola Karabatic has set himself a new challenge: to stay at the top for as long as possible. At 38, twenty more than when he was first selected for the France team, the man who is unanimously considered one of the greatest handball players of all time never ceases to amaze with his physical and mental abilities, and its longevity. By its extraordinary faculties of healing and rehabilitation after injury, too.
In May 2021, “ Niko” has returned to competition with his club, Paris Saint-Germain Handball, just seven months after a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. A short time for such an injury in a sport as physically demanding as handball. Three months later, he occupied the back line of the French team for the Tokyo Olympics, and hung around his neck an Olympic gold medal. One more.
Born in Nis (ex-Yugoslavia, today in Serbia), of a Serbian mother and a Croatian father, Karabatic had already won three Olympic medals, including two gold, twenty championships in France, Germany and Spain (in 21 professional seasons), was crowned world champion four times and crowned “best handball player of the year” three times (2007, 2014 and 2016).
Family legacy
But what does science say about the Karabatic phenomenon? Officially, not much. “The first time I met a doctor specializing in sports was around 14-15 years oldsays the player, questioned by The worldjust before his summer break, at the Pierre-de-Coubertin stadium (Paris 16e). As our sport became professional quite late, the real medical and scientific follow-up was also done very late, the few means that there were were not invested there. »
Even he, star of the stars of this sport now in the spotlight, remains little sought after by researchers. “I would do it with great pleasure, if someone explained to me the objective and the usefulness”, specifies the champion. However, the questions abound. Starting with the influence of family genetics. His father, Branko (who was his first coach and mentor), played in the national handball team of Yugoslavia, as a goalkeeper. His younger brother and teammate at PSG, Luka, 34, shares a number of titles and medals with his eldest. If no search for predisposition genes has been carried out, according to the player, he never fails to emphasize the weight of family heritage in his success.
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