French judo hero Riner wins 11th World Championship ‘The King is Back’

The King is back.’

Euro News, which informs news from Europe, described the world championship victory of French judo star Teddy Riner (34) as follows.

Riner, considered the best judoka in history, won the men’s over 100kg championship at the 2023 International Judo Federation (IJF) World Championships held at the ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar on the 14th (Korean time).

With this, he extended his own record for most World Championships wins to 11.

Riner was not seeded that day. This is because, with the exception of the Paris Grand Slam last February, he has not competed in international competitions.

From the quarterfinals, Riner had a tough schedule to meet the championship candidates.

The opponent in the quarterfinals is Tatsuru Saito, the Japanese heavyweight newcomer. Saito is the son of Japanese judo hero Hitoshi Saito, who won two consecutive gold medals in the men’s judo event at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Riner was not pushed by Saito, the “divine” who was 13 years younger than him. Rather, he overcame his stamina problems with skillful game management.

Riner advanced to the semifinals by defeating Saito by foul after an extra time (golden score) that lasted 7 minutes and 40 seconds.

Riner, who was depleted of stamina in the match against Saito, made an early match in the semifinals with world number 1 Temur Rahimov (Tajikistan).

From the beginning of the match, he poured out an aggressive attack, winning the match in 28 seconds and advancing to the final.

In the final, after an overtime match, he defeated Tasoyev of Russia, who competed as an Individual Neutral Athletes.

Riner ended her game by getting a half with her specialty thigh-snapping technique at 3:39 of extra time after not seeing a win for 4 minutes of regular time.

Nicknamed ‘Big Teddy’, Riner made judo history.

Riner, born on the French island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, won the world championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2007 as the youngest player ever at the age of 18 years and 5 months. He achieved unrivaled results, recording 154 consecutive victories in 5 months a year.

After that, Riner, whose winning streak ended안전놀이터, began to crumble. He tried to win his third consecutive Olympic title at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but failed to advance to the final due to a chronic knee injury.

There were also evaluations that Riner’s era was over.

However, Riner gnashed his teeth, saying he would make a comeback at the 2024 Paris Olympics in his home country.

He stood tall again by winning his 11th World Championship title, the most ever, at the age of not less than his mid-thirties.

It is the first time Riner has won a gold medal at the World Championships in six years since the 2017 Budapest Games.

With the win, Riner earned 2,000 Olympic ranking points and moved closer to qualifying for next year’s Paris Olympics.

He said in an interview with AFP, “Today was one of the most important days in my player’s life.”