Team GB’s women’s handball squad were unable to finish their Olympic campaign with a win in the Copper Box yesterday but for one in the ranks, the match also marked the end of her international career.

Skipper Lynn McCafferty will return to Scotland after the Games, leaving the British centralised programme in Crystal Palace, before taking up a new role in the sport.

Yesterday’s 37-14 loss to Croatia was her last match wearing the British colours and although she admitted it was a sad moment, she revealed she was excited to see what the future holds for handball.

“It is the end of an era but it is a massive start for British handball,” she explained.

“I have so enjoyed the last six years, even the ups and downs. But it has been so worth it. I can walk away an Olympian and I have represented my country at the sport I love. And everyone else loves it.

“There is nothing to be sad about. It is just the end of the journey but it is the start of something really new and exciting.”

Handball has proven a surprise hit at London 2012, with sessions in the Copper Box proving popular with the British public.

And when Team GB have been in action, the atmosphere has been truly incredible as supporters have continually cheered and encouraged the British teams despite a series of disappointing results.

And McCafferty is hopeful this can be a platform from which the sport can grow in the UK.

She continued: “I go home in a couple of weeks, pack up my house in Crystal Palace and go back up home to Cumbernauld and I am really, really looking forward to it. Everyone keeps saying I won’t like it but I will absolutely love it.

“I have been waiting six years for this day, for this last game. I am devastated that I am not playing handball anymore but I am also excited to see what happens in the future.

“I am so glad that the team have played so well so that we can now build on handball. I am not just saying it because of the legacy and inspiring a generation. I really mean it. I can’t wait to get up the road, get lots more people playing and involved to see how much we can build on it.

“I am not stopping handball, I am just not playing for GB anymore. I am still going to be around.”

She added: “Now that it is over, I know we will all look back on it and be extremely proud, glad and lucky to have been here. We have worked hard for it. Maybe sometimes you can’t see it on the court but we have worked extremely hard to be here.

“We have not wanted to walk up, play rubbish and lose by lots goals like today, but I just hope everyone understands how exciting handball is, how hard it is and how much hard work it is to play the game.

“It has taken us a long time to do. Six years training for this isn’t long enough. We needed more experience like the other nations but now we can start from here.

“This isn’t the end of British handball – it is just the start and that is a really, really important thing for everyone to remember.”

And the 33-year-old had a special word of thanks for the vocal support the squad have received from the crowd.

“It is a typical British greeting and that is what we love about Britain. We were total underdogs, we never won a thing for them but we just played our hearts and souls out and they still love us.

“It is absolutely amazing. We couldn’t ask for anything else. It is just what the heart of the Olympics is about.

“We have had the biggest sporting event in the world to showcase handball in Britain and we couldn’t have asked for anything more from the crowd.

“To sit and pay money to watch Great Britain play for them and lose every game but still love it, cheer for us and push us for 60 minutes is something they should all be extremely proud of themselves because we are so thankful.

“We really – and I mean it – couldn’t have done it without them.”