A reigning Olympic champion who fights alone, deprived of a coach by her own federation. This is the amazing image that marked the return to competition of Clarisse Agbégnénou, Friday, February 17, at the Tel Aviv Grand Prix. The Frenchwoman, five-time world judo champion and great medal hope for the 2024 Paris Olympics, resumed individual competition eight months to the day after giving birth to a baby girl.
The tricolor lost in the quarter-finals and then in the repechages at -63 kg. The result, anecdotal, was overshadowed by this now public conflict between the judoka and the French Federation of Judo and Associated Disciplines (FFJDA). In question, the mark of the kimono of Clarisse Agbégnénou.
The blockage stems from dissension surrounding the signing of an agreement between Agbégnénou and the FFJDA. This document determines the rights and obligations that bind high-level athletes and their federation. In particular, it governs competitive practice, medical follow-up, image rights, the training of athletes and… their equipment. However, for three years, Clarisse Agbégnénou has not been bound by any agreement. When he arrived at the head of the French Judo Federation in November 2020, Stéphane Nomis broke the convention established by his predecessor while waiting to set the terms of a new agreement with Agbégnénou. But the champion, who went on maternity leave after her Olympic title, was far from the mats. The case dragged on… before bouncing back, Monday, February 13.
“Disrespectful and ubiquitous”
“The federation asked me to join overnight, without discussion, to this new agreement, explains Agbégnénou to Monde. Suddenly, I was forced to participate in the French championships – when the international calendar is already very dense – they demanded that I request authorization from the federation before intervening in clubs or even wearing an Adidas kimono. in competition. I did not sign it. » The champion, who is engaged in a personal capacity with another equipment manufacturer, the Japanese Mizuno, then meets urgently Stéphane Nomis, the president of the federation, at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (Insep) , in Vincennes (Val-de-Marne).
But the imminence of his return to competition will worsen the exchanges. The day before she left for Tel Aviv, the federation urgently sent Adidas kimonos to Clarisse Agbégnénou. “At that time, I was clearly threatened that there would be consequences if I didn’t wear these kimonos. However, I didn’t have time to get used to it and there weren’t my sponsors on it., reacts the judoka. Faced with the reluctance of the tricolor, the president of the federation pleads as a last resort for a neutral kimono, pending a later decision.
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