Christophe Gagliano dismissed from French team

French coach Christophe Gagliano, head of the French senior men's team since January 2021, was dismissed from his post. Responsible for the junior team for two Olympiads, the Olympic bronze medallist from Atlanta in U71kg, he had taken over from Franck Chambily to lead the French men's team until Paris 2024. But the failure during the world championships in Tashkent (no medalist or ranked fighter) will have been fatal to the 96 and 97 Olympic and world medalist, after the president of France Judo Stéphane Nomis declared that he wanted to change things following this failed event for the men's team.

The announcement was made to him by the national technical director, Sebastien Mansois.  Asked a few days before this announcement, Christophe Gagliano returned to the failure of Tashkent, which he said he was not surprised.

“I'm sad that we come back without a medal and disappointed not to see more encouraging signs, but unfortunately not surprised. We had a very young group, a desired strategy and necessary risk-taking, to try to fill the current generation gap. A lot of delay had been accumulated before and the statistics of the last championships did not plead in favor of our chances of medal, in the absence of Teddy Riner, Axel Clerget and Luka Mkheidze. It is the whole sector that needs to be reformed, as I mentioned in the “debriefing” following these world championships. A lot of work was not done upstream, for which we are paying the price today”.

With the only medal (gold) of Teddy Riner in 2017, those (in bronze) of Axel Clerget in 2018 and 2019, no medal in 2021 and 2022 at the world championships for men, it is indeed a question of a basic trend. Christophe Gagliano is dismissed for Paris 2024.