Teddy Riner and his Paris club SG Judo won the Champions League on Saturday in Montpellier, the five-time Olympic champion winning his only fight on his return to competition five months after the Paris Games. The French judo legend, whose participation in the event was announced on Friday to everyone's surprise, only got on the mat once, during the final between PSG and Red Star Belgrade.
He faced the Cuban Andy Granda, a worthy opponent, world champion in 2022 and fifth in the last Worlds in 2024, like the Paris Olympics. After five months without competition, Riner was greeted by a nice ovation when he entered the mat, but he logically appeared far from his best level. However, he won, on penalties, after more than eight minutes of a difficult but unspectacular fight.
Only one match for Riner
With this victory, Riner brought a point to PSG, who fielded a very high level team and who ultimately won 4-0 in this final. Previously, the capital club, supported by 120 young supporters who came specially from Paris with club flags, had beaten Asnières 4-1 in the quarter-finals with a success from Romane Dicko, who was also making her return to the competition after his Olympic bronze medal.
She also won the final against Belgrade and won her two bouts by ippon, spending a total of less than a minute on the mat. Then in the semi-finals, the capital club dismissed Judo Ukraine 4-0. Riner, crowned in +100kg and in teams in Paris, did not participate in these first two rounds of the competition, contested at the FDI Stadium in Montpellier.
Initially, the five-time Olympic champion was not announced in the PSG squad for the competition, due to failure to extend his contract with the Parisian club, which expired on August 31. But an agreement on an extension, the duration of which was not specified, was finally reached to allow the judoka to participate in the end-of-year tournament. Riner, 35, expressed his desire to continue his career until the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
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