France rejoices! Local legend, 12-time world judo champion and martial arts icon Teddy Riner won the fourth Olympic gold medal in his career – a record for his sport. In addition, the French heavyweight became the most decorated judoka in the history of the Olympic Games. He now has six medals – four gold and two bronze.

Riner has every chance to make his Olympic legacy even richer, because on Saturday there will be a team competition, where the French team is considered one of the favorites.

Teddy Bear’s Flawless Tournament

In his first fight at the tournament against Magomedomar Magomedomarov from the UAE, the Frenchman had to give a lot of effort. The fight went into extra time, but the spectators never saw any throws, and the judges awarded the victory to the French judoka only because his opponent had three fouls.

Teddy Riner, Minjong Kim / Photo: © DeFodi Images / Contributor / DeFodi Images / Gettyimages.ru

However, in subsequent fights, Riner won only ahead of schedule. In the quarterfinals, he threw Georgian Guram Tushishvili and earned ippon. After the defeat, Tushishvili continued the fight and knocked Teddy down on the tatami. Guram was suspended from further competitions for unsportsmanlike behavior.

In the semi-finals, Riner dealt with Temur Rakhimov from Tajikistan in almost two minutes, tripping him from behind. And in the decisive match, Teddy faced Kim Min-Jung from South Korea. Riner also had no problems with him and caught his opponent with his signature grab. This incredibly effective throw brought the Frenchman gold, and the fans in the stands – immense joy.

Riner became the most successful judoka in history before the eyes of his compatriots.

A well-deserved victory, but a bad feeling remains

The triumph at the Olympics in judo, where athletes from Russia are not represented, loses some of its value.

The fact is that over the last three years, Riner has suffered only three defeats, two of which were from Russian heavyweights. The legendary Frenchman was defeated by Inal Tasoev and Tamerlan Bashaev, who were not allowed to participate in the Games.

Teddy Riner, Inal Tasoev / Photo: © NurPhoto / Contributor / NurPhoto / Gettyimages.ru

Last year at the World Championships in Doha, Tasoev threw the Frenchman for an obvious score in the final. The match should have ended, but due to a gross error by the referee, the fight continued, and in the next attack, Riner was able to knock down the Russian. A scandal erupted, because no one understood why Inal’s score was not counted. A month after the tournament, the International Judo Federation acknowledged the referee’s error and awarded two gold medals.

As for Bashaev, Tamerlan became the first judoka since 2008 who was able to defeat Riner at the Olympics. At the Tokyo Games, the Russian created a real sensation in the quarterfinals. According to the results of the tournament, both athletes took third place.

Bashayev approached the Games in Paris in good shape. At the last World Championships, Tamerlan came in third. The national team considered him a full-fledged replacement for Tasoyev, if something happened to the latter. But the absolutely unacceptable conditions of the IOC made our team’s arrival impossible.

Riner is not to blame for the unfair decisions of Olympic officials and is rightfully the best judoka in history. But even the Frenchman probably understands that he won the gold in Paris under favorable conditions, without having worthy competition.