Everything is rolling for the French Amandine Buchard. The 26-year-old Ile-de-France qualified this Sunday for the final of the judo tournament of Tokyo Olympics in -52 kg, after having beaten in 16 seconds by ippon the Swiss Fabienne Kocher. It could therefore bring the French team its first gold medal. Here are four things to know about his journey.
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World number 2 and European champion this year
Amandine Buchard was one of the big favorites of these Olympic Games and she therefore assumed her status. World number 2 in the world rankings, in full rise for several months, the 26-year-old Frenchwoman remains on a title of European champion won last spring, in Lisbon. Among young people, already, it was presented as a great hope of the tricolor judo. Its track record attests to this. She already has two world bronze medals, at the 2014 and 2018 world championships. Judo, she really got into it after the death of her father, in 2008. Her father had started judo in the seeing. He imagined her champion. “I owe him everything, he always followed me”, she said in an article of the world, in 2013.
She started very early
“Bubuche”, as her relatives call her, discovered judo at the age of 6, in the Noisy-le-Sec club. Coached by former international referee Cathy Mouette, she quickly progressed and took off. She joined the hopes pole of Brétigny, then the France pole of Orléans, and finally the Insep in 2012. In this champion’s factory, in Vincennes, Amandine Buchard, whose mother is from Martinique, further develops her qualities as a explosiveness. The federal staff spotted her quickly and immediately integrated her for international youth meetings. At 17, in 2013, she was already crowned champion of France in – 48 kg. A perf ‘that will make a name for it. Some, at the time, even compared her to Teddy Riner for her precocity.
A healthy change of category
For a long time, Amandine Buchard has evolved in – 48 kg. But she made the decision, in 2016, to move up to the top category, in – 52 kg. The year before, she had failed several times “to make the weight”, and tired of endless diets, she had therefore resolved to go to – 52 kg. By taking this option, Amandine Buchard knew full well that it condemned her not to go to the Rio Olympics in 2016. But her patience therefore paid off. It first took a year of transition to take its marks in its new category. From 2018, she started to have more results, until the title of European champion in 2021.
Her worst enemy is herself
The 2000 Olympic vice-champion Larbi Benboudaoud, current team leader of France, says it: “Amandine? Her worst enemy is herself. So you have to put her in good psychological condition, talk to her a lot. She can beat anyone. Abe (her opponent in the final), she beat her at home. But sometimes, she can be taken by the stake, she does not let go. As soon as she lets go, she sends everything! ” His tournament debut can be tough, according to Benboudaoud. “Sometimes she goes too crescendo. She may have a tendency to put herself at the level of the girl opposite. It’s as if a Ferrari started with a 2CV engine when it could go all the way. “
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