If Teddy Riner was able to be crowned double Olympic champion this summer at the Paris Olympics, he owes it in particular to the performance of one of his teammates.
Teddy Riner left the Paris Olympic Games with two new gold medals around his neck. But if the Guadeloupean was the big man in the final of the team event, with his two successes against the Japanese Saito, we must not forget that this final was revived by another tricolor element, less often highlighted .
During this final, France trailed 2-0 after the defeats of Maxime-Gaël Ngayap Hambou and Romane Dicko. At that moment,
“this is shit”as Dicko admits in the documentary L’Equipe Explore dedicated to this day.
Teddy Riner revives the blue house by beating Saito, but the defeat of Sarah-Léonie Cysique places the French team with its back against the wall. This is when Joan-Benjamin Gaba intervenes, the great revelation of these Olympics on the side of French judo. Teddy Riner admitted that he had pushed for Gaba to be included in the selection, with happiness, since the native of Chesnay was seeking a superb silver medal individually. But Riner also thought very strongly about this team event.
This past August 3, Gaba faced him with Hifumi Abe, a “legend”, as he described him, but a legend from the lower category. And the Frenchman wanted to be respected. “It’s like he’s going to torpedo me, but it doesn’t work like that”he confided, also in L’Equipe Explore.
And so Gaba entered the arena. “He’s a lion, but I only want to go into battle with guys like that”explains Riner the big brother.“I was an animal then, admits Gaba, 23 years old. In the call room, I had tears of rage flowing before the fight. » “He had an infallible determination, he believed in it 1000%, and it showed”confides Sarah-Léonie Cysique.
Riner, the happy ending
It was the fight that started it all again. Mentally, physically also because Abe, lighter, was starting to show signs of weariness, Gaba brought down the Japanese, and the momentum shifted. As boss, Clarisse Agbegnenou won her fight straight away and we know the legendary sequel: this draw which designated Riner for the sudden death fight.
“When we found out it was Teddy, I said to myself that it was good, that we were Olympic champions,” confides Ngayap Hambou. “No reason for this to go badly, it’s Teddy,” I thought Dicko. “I saw his face, I knew we were going to win”admits Gaba for his part. Riner wins, France triumphs. “It’s the match of his career”think his teammates. Which would not have happened without the help of his teammates, especially Gaba.
