The year 2022 marked her farewell to professional handball, a sport in which Leyuand left her footprints for many generations to come. The final goodbye came after finishing second at the EHF FINAL4 with Győr, a club where she spent four years.
“My last club was Gyor, where I finally won EHF Champions League. It was such a great experience and I am so happy I was able to lift the trophy and to play many more exciting games in Hungary,” she says.
“It was difficult to say goodbye to handball, after all, it was part of my life for 20 years. Every day, 365 days a year, you have handball in your thoughts. At the same time, I know it was a good choice for me. I was thinking about it for some time and I was lucky that I finished my career also at the peak, with a medal from the national team and club,” says the 2019 and 2020 best goalkeeper of the EHF Champions League.
Amandine Leynaud and her wife Annabelle are mothers to five-year-old twins Marcel and Mila. With family always important, the couple made the decision of retirement a little bit easier says Leynaud, who returned to her hometown.
“It is totally different. When you have a family and children, you start to think about them also. And they can make your decision a lot easier,” she says.
“You are able to spend more time with them, you have more time for yourself and altogether it turned out to be a positive thing. So, it had an influence but it was not my main reason. Nevertheless, I enjoy my life now.”
Leynaud participated in four Olympic Games, seven World Championships and six EHF EUROs, has five medals in total and huge experience after 16 years of playing for France.
“Every medal with the national team is special, and every time there is a new story. I could say that our first World Championship gold medal is the one I remember the most as it was our first gold medal,” she says.
“After three silver and a bronze medal from three major competitions, we finally went to the top. Of course, I am proud that we won Olympic gold in Tokyo, which was a great way of saying goodbye to the national team.”
Only four years ago, France together with Leynaud, finally lifted the European trophy after coming in third and fifth at the two previous editions. On their home court, in front of 14,000 fans inside the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France beat Russia 24:21, with Leynaud saving eight times at 38% efficiency with a little help from teammate Laura Glauser.
“Winning EHF EURO 2018 was one of the most difficult things as we had a lot of pressure as hosts,” Leynaud says.
“We came to the competition as World Champions and everyone had high expectations. But despite that, we had really good support and we played at a high level. The feeling to win two titles in a row was indescribable, and everything that came after was just proof of our quality, except the World Championship 2019 in Japan.”