ABALO Luc

General
RETIREMENT PLANS
He had planned to retire from the sport after the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, with his contract at Paris Saint-Germain expiring in June 2020. After the Games were postponed he committed to another season in the sport in Norway. When he retires, he says he wants to focus on his art. "My career could not end [in 2020] like this. I go back on my decision to quit, on the comments I made at the start of the season. I will work as hard as I have always done to be able to continue on the French national team until the Olympic Games in 2021. It wasn't my dream to become a handball player or a top athlete. It was my dream to become a painter or an illustrator. I think I will do that after handball." (olympicchannel.com, 01 Jan 2020; ehh.no, 28 May 2020; leparisien.fr, 17 Mar 2020)

NORWAY MOVE
In May 2020 he signed with Norwegian club Elverum Handball, ending an eight-year stay at Paris Saint-German. "I never thought I would play for a Norwegian club during my career. But I think this is the challenge I have been waiting for without knowing it, despite the fact that other clubs have contacted me. I played against Elverum with PSG in [Elverum's stadium] Hakons Hall. The atmosphere, the passion from the Norwegian supporters and the welcome we received helped me with my decision." (ehh.no, 28 May 2020)

DESIGNER
He was approached by the French Olympic Committee to design a bracelet that could be purchased in support of Paris' bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games. His design involved flower petals in the French national colours. Around one-and-a-half million bracelets went on sale in September 2015. (la-croix.com, 02 Sep 2015)