Emelyne Lopez has been a warrant officer in the Nîmes motorized platoon since 2023. She is also the only woman to pilot a gendarmerie motorcycle in Gard. “It's a Yamaha FJR 1300” she specifies. But before traveling the roads of Gard and tracking down drivers, she rubbed shoulders with handball halls and parquet floors. “I was 17 when I signed in 1997 my first contract with Bouillargueswho played in D1. It was a dream for me” she blurted. At the time, she played with Chantal Maïo, Muriel Tarrusson and the Croatian Miléna Murat.
Then two years later, she joined Metz, the best French club. “I won the title of French champion in 2000 and discovered the European Cup. We were eliminated in the quarter-finals in Skopje, Macedonia.” she remembers.
Common values
But after having worn the colors of Brest, Poitiers, Vaux-en-Velin and even Bègles-Bordeaux, Emelyne Lopez received a proposal in 2005 which did not leave her indifferent. “One day, a manager from Montluçon asked me to join his club in N3. He tells me about the police. I was 25, I canceled my contract with Bègles, because it was time to think about my career change.” she said. Emelyne Lopez then joined the Tulle gendarmerie school, then the non-commissioned officer school of Montluçon in Allier. “There, I found the same values as in sport. Team spirit, self-sacrifice and self-sacrifice” she says.
GJ
Assigned to the Eyguières brigade in Bouches-du-Rhône, then to the motorway platoon of Salon-de-Provence, she returned to Gard in 2012. Direction, the motorized brigade of Gallargues-le-Montueux. “In the gendarmerie, there is no distinction between a man and a woman. In terms of grades and salary, it's the same. I am respected, I am a soldier, period” she says.
Goalkeeper until age 42
Mother of two children, Emelyne Lopez nevertheless reconciled her profession and her passion for handball for several years. “I played with Arles in the Departmental until 2022. But at 42, I said stop” she smiled. Warrant officer, the former Bouillarguaise player will take her place this Monday evening during an exhibition match against the Nîmes women's team. “I will be, for one evening, captain of the Gendarmerie team” she concludes.
