The French mixed judo team achieved a superb feat by beating Japan (4-1) with Sarah Léonie Cysique, Clarisse Agbegnenou, Margaux Pinot, Romane Dicko, Guillaume Chaine, Axel Clerget and Teddy Riner.
Born in mainland France to a Reunionese mother, Guillaume Chaine spent five years of his childhood in Saint-Gilles-les-Hauts. Trained at JCM Saint-Paul, he is the second Reunionese to obtain gold at the Olympics.
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The French judo team, led by Clarisse Agbégnénou and Teddy Riner, achieved a superb feat by beating Japan in the final of the mixed team event to win the first Olympic gold medal awarded in this event, in Tokyo. Saturday.
At home, at Nippon Budokan, Japan was a huge favorite, especially since they fielded several fighters crowned Olympic champions this week. But the Blues thwarted the forecasts and won 4 to 1, thanks in particular to the victories of Agbégnénou and Riner.
This is the 18th medal for the French delegation, the fourth in gold.
With this victory, Clarisse Agbégnénou, flag bearer of the Blues, leaves Tokyo with two Olympic titles, since she was crowned Tuesday in individual in -63 kg. As for Teddy Riner, he now has three Olympic titles with his two individual coronations in 2012 and 2016. He also brings back from the Japanese capital the bronze obtained on Friday in +100 kg, his fourth individual medal in four editions of the Olympics.
This collective gold medal, in an event registered for the first time on the Olympic program, crowns the superb week of French judo, which had already collected seven individual awards, equaling the records of Barcelona-1992 and London-2012.
To reach the final, the French first had to fight against Israel in a match where they came close to elimination. After four fights, only one victory was missing for Israel, which led 3-1 after the defeats of Sarah-Léonie Cysique (-57 kg), Margaux Pinot (-70 kg) and Axel Clerget (-90 kg). Only Guillaume Chain (-73 kg) had then won his fight.
But Romane Dicko (+78 kg) and Teddy Riner (+100 kg), the two bronze medalists on Friday, won and France fell to 3-3. The decisive fight was fixed by a draw and it is Margaux Pinot, beaten in her first face-to-face with Gili Sharir after an endless clash of twelve minutes, who had to come back on the mat!
The 2021 European vice-champion did not fail this time and won by ippon after another tough fight lasting more than four minutes.
Then in the semi-final, the Blues clearly dominated the Netherlands 4-0, thanks to the success of Guillaume Chain, Clarisse Agbégnénou, Axel Clerget and Romane Dicko. Teddy Riner, who serves as captain of this France team, did not need to get on the mat but he did not stop encouraging his people.
Finally, in the final, against a strong Japanese group of four fighters, newly crowned Olympic champions and a bronze medalist, Clarisse Agbégnénou, against Chizuru Arai, in gold in -70 kg on Wednesday, and Axel Clerget, against Shoichiro Mukai, gave the advantage to France 2-0.
Akira Sone, titled in +78 kg the day before, reduced the gap at the expense of Romane Dicko. But Teddy Riner, even led in two and a half minutes of golden score by the Olympic champion of -100 kg Aaron Wolf, and Sarah-Léonie Cysique, opposed to Tsukasa Yoshida, scored the last two blue points. Not giving the Japanese judo star Shohei Ono the opportunity to pull off a decisive fight.
Daniel Narcisse remains the most successful Reunionese at the Games.
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