One week after lighting the Olympic cauldron alongside Marie-José Pérec, judoka Teddy Riner reinforced his status as a sports legend with the achievement of his third individual medal at the Olympic Games. That initial honor given to Riner further heightened the desire to celebrate an Olympic title in front of his fellow countrymen, but ever since the event was awarded to Paris, winning gold proved to be immensely important for the French judoka. At 35 years old, Riner is now the judoka with the most titles and medals in Olympic history, totaling six.
World champion on 11 occasions, Teddy Riner added a third Olympic individual championship title – equaling the Japanese Tadahiro Nomura (champion in 1996, 2000, and 2004 in the -60kg category) – and erased the bitter memory of Tokyo, where he fell short in the quest for gold, losing in the quarter-finals to Tamerlan Bashaev. The event’s postponement for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a left knee injury did not aid Riner’s preparation, who right after winning the bronze medal – along with another gold in the team competition – retreated to Guadeloupe for a vacation and some reflection on his career. The disappointment from Tokyo turned into motivation for Paris.
He sought out Christian Chaumont, his coach from 2009 to 2016, to reinvent training sessions, introduced several training camps in Brazil, Japan, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan to pursue new technical and physical challenges, and presented himself in Paris stronger in every department, weighing 141kg – one less than in Tokyo – and in great competitive shape, having won all 38 contests he fought since Tokyo (24 this year) and triumphing in five international competitions he entered since February, including the Grand Slam of Paris, where he dominated for the eighth time, setting a new record for the event. Another goal was to enter the Olympic Games ranked among the top eight to feature among the seeded players, which did not happen in Tokyo.
“It’s hard work, it’s well-deserved! I want to thank everyone who believed in me. When it’s written, it’s written, it’s simply crazy! I would never have imagined something like this. The audience, the family that is here… it’s exceptional. I wanted this, I’m super happy, I’m going to take some time to enjoy this. Thank you all,” Riner stated after winning the final against South Korean Minjong Kim by ippon – thanks to a harai goshi (projection through a hip sweep) – and receiving congratulations from President Emmanuel Macron, who was present at the Champ-de-Mars Arena.
Riner is only the second French athlete to win medals in five different editions of the Olympic Games, following in the footsteps of fencer Philippe Cattiau (from 1920 to 1936). And the judoka born in Guadeloupe and residing in Marrakech may not be done yet, as he has already confessed that he sees himself competing in 2028.
This was France’s first gold medal won in judo at the Paris Games, a sport that ranks fifth among the most practiced sports in the country. Overall, results have been frustrating for the sport, especially in the women’s sector where there were four title favorites, and only Shirine Boukli (-48kg), Clarisse Agbégnénou (-63kg), and Romane Dicko (+78kg) managed to win bronze medals. In total, the French judokas have secured nine medals, consisting of one gold, two silver, and six bronze.