Recordmaker Teddy Riner essential for judo image

Teddy Riner is again crowned as Olympic Champion. He won his third Olympic medal which pits him next to David Douillet (1992-2000), with eight world titles he is the world’s best athlete. Tadahiro Nomura (JPN) is the only athlete with three Olympic titles.

In today’s final Riner had a tactical match against Hisayoshi Harasawa. Both athletes had never met and it was the dreamfinal, on paper. As the final never met the expectations of the judo fans. A tactical match won by shidos, booed by the crowd, but Teddy sticked to the rules and is simply better than anyone else. He didn’t find the opportunity to take the risk for a throw, an opportunity that he saw in the last second of the semi final match against Or Sasson where he launched a sutemi to throw Sasson for the victory. In the quarter final match he defeated Rafael Silva of Brazil who won the bronze today. The Brazilian veteran came back rather late in the qualification but he was the right man for the job and won his last bout against Abdullo Tangriev and snatched his second bronze Olympic medal in a row, otherwise Uzbek judoka Tangriev, another veteran could have repeated to win a medal like he did in 2008. Silva delivered the third medal for Brazil in this tournament. Or Sasson who lost to Riner in the semi won bronze in his last contest against Cuban Alex Garcia.

In the medal table France dumped to place two behind Japan with three gold medals and twelve medals in total, all Japanese men won a medal. With France’s gold by Andeol in the women’s tournament today France won two gold medals in one day for the first time. Russia won two gold medals in the men’s division, an amazing performance although the Russians won three gold in 2012. It gave Europe the victory in the medal table with eight titles, even one more than in 2012. Even in the men’s tournament Europe won five gold medals, beyond the expectations.

Teddy Riner was booed after his performance, but didn't want to waste a title with a last attempt to spoil the crowd. It will deliver new discussions about the future of judo. Teddy Riner is the gift for judo with performance outer space. He is recognised outside out sport and flagbearer for France and for judo. At least for the next four years.