Paris vous aime magazine Juillet-Août-Septembre 2024

hegemony, mostly because other countries aspired to judo excellence and rapidly elevated their standards to a similar level. Driven by a handful of inspired pioneers, the French school has also adapted to judo’s modern stature, even in the spectacular heavyweight cate gory. Since 1996, only three countries have won Olympic gold medals in this category: the Czech Republic (2020), Japan (2004 and 2008), and France, through the excellence of David Douillet (1996 and 2000) and Teddy Riner (2012 and 2016). Douillet’s merits are considerable. Despite the partici pation of French judokas Rey, Parisi, Alexandre, Nowak, and Fleury in the Olympic Games, Douillet’s consecu tive gold medals at the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics confirmed France’s leading place in the sport. Both boys and girls, in all French regions and territories now regard it as one of the most compelling and exciting sports in the world.

Born respectively in 1969 and 1989, Douillet and Riner’s reigns were sepa rated by 20 years. In the space of this interval an efficient countrywide training system was put in place and the number of French judo practitio ners increased by more than 100,000. The brilliant career of the current head of the French team illustrates this development. Born in Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, Riner moved to the Paris region and first learned how to move his body in a dance class at the age of 5 – a fun introduction to more athletic pursuits. By the age of 13, Riner had fully dedicated himself to judo in Judo Club Bolivar, in Paris’ 19th arron dissement, before joining the Insep (National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance) in Vincennes, the factory of champions, where all his predecessors had trained. While there, Riner received all the support, coa ching, scholarships, mentoring, trai ning, and bonuses he needed. Between

Driven by a handful of dedicated pioneers, the French school of judo quickly adapted to significant shifts in the world of judo

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