There was indeed not a single seat left in the Arena Champ-de-Mars to witness the new coronation of Teddy Riner, now a three-time Olympic judo champion. This is his fifth individual medal, to which he could still add a mixed team medal tomorrow. There was bronze in Beijing in 2008, gold in London and Rio, bronze again in Tokyo three years ago, and gold again today, in Paris, in the French capital.
With this new title, Teddy Riner confirms his status as a living legend of judo and world sport. He is writing a new page in the history of our sport and he did it in the most beautiful way by scoring an emphatic ippon in the final against Korea's Minjong Kim, world champion a few weeks ago in Abu Dhabi. The latter has nothing to regret as he tried everything, but Teddy Riner was simply the king today, a king in his own garden, who seemed to savour every moment of his apotheosis.
Teddy Riner declared, "It was a perfect, amazing day today. I gave myself the perfect chance to do this and I did what I came here to do.”
Bronze medal contests
In the first bronze medal contest between Andy Granda (CUB) and Temur Rakhimov (TJK) there was no real rhythm at the beginning. Andy Granda was penalised a first time and was then running after the score, offering counterattack opportunities to his opponent. Rakhimov exploited one to score a waza-ari with tani-otoshi. This was enough to secure the bronze medal, the second for Tajikistan in Paris.
The styles of the two judoka qualified for the second bronze medal contest were in opposition. On one side, Alisher Yusupov (UZB) is known for his capacity to throw with massive pick-ups but has also good technical skills in his arsenal, while Tatsuru Saito (JPN) has a pure Japanese heavyweight style. Yusupov was not impressed at all. He applied a first o-soto-otoshi for waza-ari and concluded with an armlock for ippon. The bronze medal was for Yusupov, the third medal for Uzbekistan at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Semi-final
Without any doubt the first semi-final was the more awaited one with Teddy Riner being qualified against Temur Rakhimov (TJK). We know that Rakhimov, who has met Riner several times, doesn't like the power of the Frenchman, who once again produced a masterpiece with harai-goshi for an ippon that made the public explode with joy.
Who would be Riner's opponent? Would it be Tatsuru Saito (JPN) who has been prepared to defeat Riner for many years, but hads not succeeded yet, or the current world champion from Abu Dhabi, Minjong Kim. As the contest began, it seemed that Kim was more ready and active than Saito. Kim's attacks were fast, just missing a little precision until a beautiful left-seoi-otoshi arrived that sent Saito flat on his back. It was ippon and was rewarded with a ticket to the final.
Repechage
The first repechage contest saw Ushangi Kokauri (AZE) and Andy Granda (CUB) stepping on to the tatami. Despite the difference in size, Granda was more active and mobile, and eventually won the bout after Ushangi Kokauri was penalised a third time.
Due to his suspension, Guram Tushishvili (GEO) was not allowed to compete in the second repechage contest and therefore Alisher Yusupov (UZB) was awarded the victory.