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 Guadeloupean champion has expressed his desire to continue his career until the Los Angeles Games in 2028. On the other hand, he is giving up the Grand Slam in Paris due to elbow surgery.
The legend of French judo, whose participation in the event was announced on Friday to everyone's surprise, therefore 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. 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.
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.
Teddy Riner, during the interview which followed the competition, expressed his desire to continue his career until the Los Angeles Games in 2028. He announced, however, that he would ultimately not compete in the Grand Paris judo slam in February because he will have elbow surgery at the start of the year.
I'm telling you, I don't do Paris. Because I'm not ready, that's not the objective of the season and because at the start of the year, in two or three weeks, heading to the operating room for injuries that I should have fixed before and that I kept waiting for the Champions League. As soon as I recover from the operation, I attack again.
The French Judo Federation announced Riner's participation in the prestigious Grand Slam in Paris on Monday, but the 35-year-old Guadeloupean finally had to cancel his appearance.
“I had thought that (I could participate), but the medical staff called me to order. I have to go towards the operating room to fix my elbow which has been injured for far too long now. We are going to stop pull on the rope if I want to go to the Los Angeles Olympics”in 2028.
Teddy Riner had already undergone surgery on his right elbow in 2015 before the Rio Games, but a new operation was essential, he explained. “I've had to have this elbow operated on for seven years. I pulled on it and there it is, I can't anymore, it hurts too much”emphasized Riner.
Each time, I had a physiotherapist or an osteologist who put it back in place for me during each training session or after each competition, or we tried to find techniques to strap it so that it wouldn't come out. So that's it, today, we have to take the bull by the horns, we have to go, that's all.
The Guadeloupean made his return to competition on Saturday for the Champions League contested with his club PSG, the five-time Olympic champion winning his only fight for his return to competition five months after the Paris Games.
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