Nothing lasts forever — except Teddy Riner, French Olympic judo superstar (2024)

PARIS — Emmanuel Macron trotted around the back of Champ-de-Mars Arena, kicking up gravel, coating his leather dress shoes in dust. Hustling hard, he turned a corner into a side passageway to the arena floor, nearly running over an unsuspecting journalist. The French President was in a rush. He wanted to see the most popular man in the country.

On the floor, Teddy Riner, the unquestioned greatest judoka of all time, stood like a human monument. All 6 feet, 8 inches. All 305 pounds. Perfectly smooth, shaved head. Deep, dark beard. Big, bright eyes. The most satisfied smile you’ve ever seen. In his hand — a third individual gold medal in an unmatched career that isn’t over but is maybe approaching a vanishing point.

Riner’s name might not broadly ring as familiar as some others here in Paris —Simone, LeBron, Ledecky, Sha’Carri, Djokovic, Nadal, and the newcomer, Léon. But in the very particular world of judo, he is a figure so transcendent that there are statues of him already standing in both his birthplace of Guadeloupe, a French territory; and in France. He’s mentioned in the same breath as Zinedine Zidane as among the country’s most popular athletes. Riner was a torchbearer for the 2008 Beijing Games, a flagbearer for the 2016 Rio Games, and partook in the final relay to light the Olympic cauldron for these 2024 Games.

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But now the legend is 35. He won the +100kg division world championship in 2023, but didn’t compete in 2024. That go-round was won by Minjong Kim, a 23-year-old from the Republic of Korea. Among Olympic-eligible judokas heading to Paris, Kim was ranked No. 1 in the International Judo Federation’s world rankings, followed by Tajikistan’s Temur Rakhimov (27), Japan’s Tatsuru Saito (22), Georgia’s Guram Tushishvili (29) and Cuba’s Andy Granda (32).

Riner ranked seventh in the world.

There was a chance this week in Paris was going to be a fond goodbye, not a final gold. In May, Riner told French newspaper Le Monde: “I doubt myself all the time. My teams around me don’t understand it. It’s quite simple: I constantly question myself. No matter how many times you tell me I’m the best, in my eyes, I’m not. Doubt fuels me, and I overcome it.”

The greats find a way.

So there, of course, following a pair of morning victories, was Riner on Friday afternoon, walking into a jammed 6,900-seat Champ-de-Mars Arena for the semifinals. French fans showed up with all variety of handmade signs and cutouts of Riner’s face and flags. Lots of flags.

First, Riner beat Rakhimov, setting off an eruption, and starting a long build to a final against Kim.

The finale lasted 4 minutes, 33 seconds. And then it happened. The quickness of Riner’s final move, throwing Kim over his hip and onto the mat. It made you question your own eyes. One moment, he and Kim were in an ideal dance, mimicking each other’s moves, feeling things out. The next, Kim looked like a crumpled laundry bag on the floor and Riner’s arms were raised.

The reaction was delirium. Hot emotion. Two fans sitting next to the media section in the upper regions of the arena brushed away tears. Everyone else hugged and cheered — reporters, volunteers and attendants included. Riner walked laps around the mat, trying to return the love. Embracing everyone. Reaching over rows to clutch extended hands. Posing for pictures with the President.

You know greatness when you see it, and even one uninitiated with judo could understand what was happening Friday. The reaction to Riner was one that only a select few can ever conjure. It was one that spoke to a shared experience.

Riner first emerged as a French hero in 2007, becoming the youngest male judoka world champion in history at age 18. The country has a long, passionate history with the sport, and his rise came in time to follow David Douillet as France’s next great heavyweight. It also came as Kosei Inoue, then the world’s best heavywight, retired at age 29 after a series of injuries and failing to qualify for the 2008 Olympics. Riner beat Inoue twice before that decision to walk away and immediately stepped into the void.

All expectations were answered in all possible ways.

Riner won Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016. He won 11 world championships. He at one point won 154 straight matches between 2010 and 2020. To this day, he’s only lost five career matches.

Friday was quite possibly going to be the sixth. Riner hasn’t hid from his twilight in recent years. Following a loss in the 2020 Paris Grand Slam, he said afterward: “My career is already behind me, so I’m not too disappointed about it. I am proud of what I did.”

That was four years ago.

Sitting for a press conference after Friday’s win, Riner shrugged his massive shoulders and said something you’ll rarely hear from the greats.

“I don’t have the gift of confidence,” he said.

But that, it turns out, is what’s made all the difference. It’s why, Riner said, he’s spent his entire adult life with the work ethic of someone with something to prove and why he hasn’t been able to stop.

If it were possible, the only thing to do next would be for Paris to name Champ-de-Mars Arena after the greatest judoka of all time. As it turns out, though, the 100,000-square-foot temporary venue, built only three years ago, is going to be disassembled in the fall.

Nothing lasts forever, apparently.

Except Teddy Riner. He ended Friday saying that he has future plans. He’ll celebrate this gold for a little while and take some time to rest. Then he’s going to go back to the gym, get back to work.

He’s planning to compete in Los Angeles in 2028.

(Top photo: Luis Robayo / AFP via Getty Images)

Brendan Quinn is an senior enterprise writer for The Athletic. He came to The Athletic in 2017 from MLive Media Group, where he covered Michigan and Michigan State basketball. Prior to that, he covered Tennessee basketball for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Follow Brendan on Twitter @BFQuinn