Teddy Riner wins Paris for the eighth time

The heavyweight category is what the 15,000 spectators were waiting for and above all he is the champion that everyone wanted to see. Was this Teddy Riner's last appearance at a Grand Slam before the Paris 2024 Games? Nobody knows, but what is certain is that each contest of the living legend of judo, 11 times world champion and two times Olympic champion, once again generated torrents of cheers in the Accor Arena.

The victories kept coming for Riner, to the greatest pleasure of all. The public showed that they still had their voice, after having encouraged Clarisse Agbegnenou and the other members of the French team throughout the previous days who won the Paris Grand Slam for a seventh time. In the semi-final, the tall Frenchman faced number one seed Alisher Yusupov (UZB) who was working at 100% of his capacity to throw the French giant with a yoko-guruma that sent a chill through the stadium. Ippon or not? The video quickly revealed that Riner didn't land completely on his back: waza-ari, but the stadium stopped breathing for a moment and Yusupov showed his Uzbek flag on his chest after he thought he had won.

The contest increased in intensity and Yusupov did not seem to be giving in. Riner, however, put even more pressure on him and quickly equalised. In a final action, he sealed the fight by throwing his valiant opponent. Hats off to Yusupov who offered candid opposition throughout this magnificent semi-final and congratulations to Riner for again reaching the final... for an eighth victory?

While all eyes were on Riner, Minjong Kim (KOR) was making his way to the final too. The first big attack came from Teddy Riner but Minjong Kim fell on his stomach. Then it was the turn of Riner to fall with a powerful ippon-ko-uchi from the Korean judoka but for no score. Kim was pushing and was dangerous on several occasions. As the final gong sounded in the arena, there were two shido apiece.

The contest was intense and it felt like it could go either way. Kim launched a tani-otoshi that slightly unbalanced Riner but the champion readjusted his position, changed direction and accompanied Kim to the ground with an o-uchi-gari for waza-ari. The respect of Teddy Riner for his worthy opponent was clearly visible. He likes to have challenging opposition and today he had it, but in the end, Teddy Riner is the winner and for the 8th time; a new record is set.

The first match for a bronze medal was between Saba Inaneishvili (GEO) and Kanta Nakano (JPN) and the result was quickly known as Kanta Nakano pinned down his opponent for ippon after less than a minute. This is the first medal in a grand slam for Nakano.

The second and final bronze medal match saw Irakli Demetrashvili (GEO) and Alisher Yusupov (UZB) battle it out for the podium place. Irakli Demetrashvili thought he had scored but it was actually his opponent Alisher Yusupov who had executed a perfect sumi-gaeshi for ippon. It is medal number seven in a grand slam for Alisher Yusupov.

Teddy Riner now won the Grand Slam in Paris for the eighth time and is the only one in the history to do that.