In 2017, the French Judo Federation had 604,816 registered members. Judo thus became the fifth most popular competitive sport in France after football, tennis, basketball and equestrianism.

There are 5700 judo clubs in France, and the number of participants aged 10 to 19 reaches 75%. For this reason, the association pays great attention to ethics and morality during training.

French judo has given the country several national stars, such as current Olympic champion Teddy Riner, who won gold in the men’s +100kg division at the London and Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Teddy Riner biography

Teddy Riner is a French judoka in the weight category over 100 kg, winner of ten world championship titles, Olympic champion in London-2012, Rio de Janeiro-2016, then in the mixed teams of Tokyo-2020, bronze medalist in Beijing. in 2008 and Tokyo in 2021, a five-time European champion. In 2018, he was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

He was France’s flag bearer at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he won another gold, this time against Japan’s Hisayoshi Harasawa, becoming the most successful judoka in history and thus resuming his dominance in judo.

He became the youngest European heavyweight champion and the youngest world champion among men.

Youth and early career

Teddy Pierre-Marie Riner was born on April 7, 1989 in Guadeloupe. He quickly left the island for the capital Paris. At the age of five, his parents enrolled him in the Aquaboulevard sports club, where he discovered several disciplines, including judo, an activity to which he definitively devoted himself from the age of thirteen.

In 2004, when his potential and his physique were noticed during the French Cadets Championship, he joined the “centre of hope” Petit-Couronne.

He started performing at the age of 17. As part of the French team during the international championship on the occasion of the 2005 European Junior Championships, which was held in Zagreb in Croatia, he returned with a bronze medal. The following year, he made his first notable appearance at the World Cup in Vienna, Austria.

Sports career

When Teddy Riner was only 5 years old, his parents enrolled Teddy in a sports club, where he discovered football, basketball and judo. From the age of 13, he made judo his favorite pastime and trained at the Judo Club Bolivar de Buttes-Chaumont while training at INSEP.

In the same year, at the French junior championships, he won all bouts, then he was at the European and junior world championships, where he won gold in Tallinn, Estonia and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in the heavyweight division.

His fighting style and potential make him, according to the media, a worthy successor to four-time world champion David Douill. During the 2007 European Championship in Belgrade (Serbia), he became the European champion. He is the youngest European champion in history and became a medalist at the age of 18.

Teddy Riner arrived at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and finished third with a bronze medal at 19 years old. The same year, he returned to the tatami at the World Junior Championships (under 20) in Bangkok, Thailand where he retained the world title.

In the final of the Paris tournament, he defeated Daiki Kamikawa. In 2011, he was in Istanbul at the European Championship, where he became number one. five-time world champion among men. In 2012, at the Olympics in London, he became the Olympic champion in the heavy weight category (+100 kg).

In 2014, player competed at the World Championships in Chelyabinsk, beating the Japanese Ryu Shchitinohe and becoming a seven-time champion, in the same year the judoka won the European Championship in Montpellier.

Thanks to Teddy Riner’s many phenomenal victories on the international stage, judo has become a very lucrative and important sport in France. So, thanks to Riner, France won many gold medals and became an important figure in the Olympic Games.