Ten months ago, to take time off from the national team, "Doudou" had the good taste to finish on Olympic gold, dominating Russia in the final, under a neutral flag, in Tokyo in mid-August 2021.

She then extended the pleasure in the club in Hungary, in Györ on the banks of the Danube where she has taken up residence since the summer of 2018, deciding however in January 2022 that this would be her last season.

"It's been something, I've been doing it for... I don't know, probably too long. I'm happy, I lived this moment fully, having fun, being there, very present, just enjoying it, by playing handball, which I like to do. I am still at peace with this decision "made a few months earlier, she commented after the final.

For her last handball match with her teammates from Györ against Kristiansand, defending champions, she could not have dreamed of a more beautiful setting than the brand new Budapest Dome and its 15,400 spectators, a record attendance for a women's club match.

It was necessary that for the best French goalkeeper and the one who was the world reference in her position.

"It's huge, it was really fun to play in a hall like that. She's beautiful, she's tall, but you can feel the people close. It shows how much women's handball has progressed", appreciated Leynaud, which blew its 36 candles a month ago.

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The metal of the last medal was ultimately not the one hoped for, the fault of the opposing Norwegian goalkeeper, Katrine Lunde, impassable at 42 in the key moments of the final.

In a dream team with two other world-class goalkeepers, her compatriot Laura Glauser and the Norwegian Silje Solberg, coach Ambros Martin gave her the keys to the Hungarian cage to start the final.

Her entry into the last quarter of an hour of play in the semi-final against the Danes of Esbjerg was decisive, and she started her final on the same basis, seven saves in the first period.

But that was not enough to get a second Champions League after the one won in 2019.

The goalkeepers of the Blues Amandine Leynaud and Cléopatre Darleux show their complicity after their conquest of a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, August 8, 2021 Franck FIFE AFP / Archives

"I'm obviously sad that we weren't able to counter them in that match, because they held the ball a lot, they played their game, the game we knew. I'm still proud of the team, we really held on when at some point we could have let go of the match", explained the Ardèchoise.

After having won everything that is possible to win in this sport - Champions League in 2019 in club, Olympic Games in 2021, world championship in 2017 and European championship, at home, in 2018 - Amandine Leynaud is doing "super well", after 18 professional seasons during which she has traveled across Europe, from Metz to Valcea in Romania, via Skopje and Györ.

The native of Aubenas will now devote herself to passing on her knowledge, since she will train the keepers of Bourg-de-Péage, the club where she started handball at a high level.

© 2022 AFP