The 35-year-old Frenchman is the first judoka to have won Olympic gold four times.
France’s superstar Teddy Riner has won Olympic gold for the fourth time as the first judoka. The 35-year-old triumphed in the over 100 kg category on Friday in Paris, following his individual Olympic victories in 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, as well as team gold in 2021 in Tokyo. In the final, he defeated South Korean world champion Kim Min-jong with Ippon in front of the eyes of President Emmanuel Macron, sending the audience at the Champ-de-Mars Arena into ecstasy.
Riner is the biggest star in his sport and now also a record winner. Japanese judoka Tadahiro Nomura had triumphed three times in a row between 1996 and 2004. In the team event on Saturday, he can win his seventh medal in his fifth Olympic appearance. He won individual bronze in 2008 in Beijing and in Tokyo. Additionally, he has already been world champion eleven times. At the opening ceremony of his home games, the judo star lit the Olympic flame together with former track and field athlete Marie-José Pérec.
In the quarterfinals, Riner won a heated duel against Georgian Guram Tushishvili. The 29-year-old opponent was subsequently disqualified for unsportsmanlike behavior and removed from the competition. Riner had thrown the Olympic runner-up from Tokyo onto his back and defeated him by Ippon. Tushishvili then brought the Frenchman down with his legs and leaned over him. When Riner tried to get up, the Georgian knocked him down again with his hip.