During the opening ceremony, IJF President Mr Marius Vizer said, "Distinguished guests, dear President Nomis, spectators, judoka, partners and media representatives, dear judo family, thank you for attending the Paris Grand Slam. I want to congratulate all the participants of the Paris Olympic Games and all those who achieved the best results and contributed to the promotion of judo worldwide. I want to congratulate the French team and the French Judo Federation for organising the best grand slam. I wish you a good competition, a beautiful day and I declare the Paris Grand Slam open."
Before that, Mr Stéphane Nomis, France Judo President, declared, "Dear Marius, dear public, dear judoka. First of all I want to thank the IJF President, Mr Marius Vizer for offering us the chance to organise this grand slam every year. We had so much emotion here in Paris last year during the Olympic Games. We had 14 French judoka and they won 10 medals, which made judo the number one sport in the country in terms of results. This is thanks to all of you. Judo is a great sport in France and we are soon going to reach more than 600,000 judoka.
The Paris Grand Slam is a great event, one that offers us the possibility to see our champions and discover the future generation of athletes. Cheer for all your heroes, you are the most beautiful audience in the world!"
A few minutes earlier, Frédéric Lecanu, who has been directing France Judo's entertainment for years, climbed onto the tatami and thundered, "Do you like judo?" To which the audience responded with a resounding "Yessssss!!!" Yes, the French public loves judo and all the judoka who have ever fought here know it. Before the entire judo world looks to the future and LA 2028, it was therefore an opportunity to dive back into the fervour of Paris 2024.
The show was launched by Axelle Saint-Cirel, an opera singer, who sang the Marseillaise during the opening ceremony of the Games last summer. To a tune by Bizet, she set the tone for a day dedicated to the celebration of judo, before Teddy Riner made his entrance to the cheers of the crowd.
"Are you okay?" chanted the champion. "Who was here last summer, who experienced it? There was fire, wasn't there? Did we do French judo proud? I can tell you that we felt this fervour, this extraordinary atmosphere. Thank you for everything. We had dreamed of it and we did it. Winning this Olympic medal at home was fabulous. Following that with the team title was wonderful.
For the mixed team final, I was a little tired but when my name was drawn, it was with pleasure, determination and a strong mind that I went to get the title for the team. Judo is done in pairs and for a big final, we needed a great opponent. This was the case with Japan and I want to pay tribute to them. They fought with their body and their heart, but we were a great team. It was a great honour and we had great pride to fight against Japan."
When asked if Teddy was ready to race for LA 2028, he asked the crowd, "Do you believe in it?" When the audience responded enthusiastically, he continued, "If you believe in it, I believe in it too. The pleasure is still there and I intend to go all the way to Los Angeles."
As Axelle Saint-Cirel continued to show her talent, other French Olympic and Paralympic judoka were honoured, including Sandrine Martinet, Luka Mkheidze, Amandine Buchard, Cyrille Jonard, Sarah-Léonie Cysique and Romane Dicko, while a tribute was paid to Cyril Pagès, coach of the Paralympic team, who passed away shortly after the Paralympic event.
While the past had been discussed a bit during the opening ceremony, it was now time to focus on the present and the future with the first final block of the weekend.