Olympic Champions! Teddy Riner, Clarisse Agbegnenou and the French judokas won the first gold medal in the history of the mixed team competition by outclassing Japan in the final of the Tokyo Olympics (4-1). The young Sarah Léonie-Cysique held her short lead over her Japanese opponent to give the victory to the Blues. The judokas bring back a fourth Olympic title to the French delegation, the 8th medal of French judo.
OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS !!! France wins the gold medal!
Clarisse Agbegnenou, Axel Clerget, Teddy Riner and Sarah-Léonie Cysique allowed the Blues to beat Japan in the final #Tokyo2020
▶ ️ Follow the Olympics live: https://t.co/Tki3Gsq4BIpic.twitter.com/UHb5kFA6NY
– France tv sport (@francetvsport) July 31, 2021
Japan was favorite
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 Agbegnenou and Riner.
With this victory, Clarisse Agbegnenou, 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.
On the verge of elimination in quarters
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 Chaine (-73 kg) had 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.
Two ippons in the final
Then in the semi-final, the Blues clearly dominated the Netherlands 4-0 thanks to the success of Guillaume Chaine, Clarisse Agbegnenou, 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 recently crowned Olympic champions and a bronze medalist, Clarisse Agbegnenou and Axel Clerget gave France the advantage 2-0 by two ippons.
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.
–
