Thierry Omeyer, the tempting guardian of the blue temple

At the same time as his friend Daniel Narcisse, another Monument of the team of France decided to leave the international scene: Thierry Omeyer, emblematic guardian of the Experts.


Everything has an end, even for Thierry Omeyer. At 40, the goaltender of the French team, probably the best of all time at his post, announced on Tuesday that he would end his international career at the end of the season.

READ ALSO
"Air France" arises for good
The Blues lost one of their pillars for more than ten years and especially the most titled player in history. He is the only one to have ten gold medals: 2 Olympic, 3 European and 5 World Championships, the last of which was gleaned at home in January as a substitute. An unusual record for a player whose longevity is also. He wore the tricolor jersey for nearly twenty years as he had honored the first of his 356 caps in September 1999. At that time, Omeyer was only 22 years old and he was not considered a great future. But his mental strength, his bulimia of work and his hatred of failure will make the difference.

In 2008, he was voted best player of the year, the equivalent of the Golden Ball to football. Two years later, Internet users named him the best of all time at his post on the International Federation (IHF) site, in front of legends such as the triple Olympic champion Andrei Lavrov (1988, 1992, 2000). In his first major international competition, at the Mondial-2001 in France, Omeyer will experience the joys of a title, the first of his career, alongside his companion Daniel Narcisse who also decided to hang up.

He will not miss any of the twenty campaigns of the Blues. First in the shadow of Bruno Martini, the emblematic goalkeeper of the "Barjots" then the "Costauds", he will become one of the essential links of the "Experts" who offered a first Olympic title to France, In 2008, and then left only crumbs to their rivals.

Adept of psychological warfare

Omeyer will often turn into a savior thanks to his mastery of the duels, his reflexes, his flexibility and his mobility, which compensate an average size for a goalkeeper (1.92 m all the same for 93 kg), but also his propensity to bluff with The opposing shooters. Discreet and undefined before the media, the native of Mulhouse was transformed on the floor. An angry point and an inhabited look towards the public, his bench or that of the opponent, he has mastered the psychological warfare on the ground.