Allison Pineau

Sport: Handball

Nation: France

DOB: May 2, 1989

Career Highlights: Pineau will be making her Olympic debut after she did not participate in the 2008 Beijing Games, only making the roster as a replacement player as France finished in fifth place. She is hoping to reverse the heartbreak of the 2011 world championships in which she suffered a ruptured knee ligament in a 28-23 semifinal win over Denmark and missed France’s 32-24 loss to Norway in the gold-medal match, although she was still named the tournament’s top center back. Two years earlier, Pineau scored six goals in a 25-22 loss to Russia in the championship as part of a year in which she earned IHF player of the year honors. A winner of her first international medal at the European youth championships in 2005, Pineau finished second in 2011 player of the year voting to Norway’s Heidi Loke. While the Olympics are a priority in 2012, Pineau created a stir in the handball world this year with her plans to leave domestic club Metz to join Romanian club Oltchim RM Valcea. Pineau and France gained one of the final Olympic berths in qualifying in May.

Olympic History: 2008