Nikola Karabatic looked around, up to the gods and to either side. More than 26,500 people were on their feet, celebrating him unreservedly and chanting his name, the noise echoing around this repurposed football stadium as it had all afternoon.
At ground level, his colleagues joined their German counterparts in leading the acclaim. One of the great French sporting careers was finally over, although nobody could quite say how. This handball quarter-final was an all-time classic: an occasion of suitable pitch for an icon to bow out.
