She is one of France’s best-loved women sports stars, a martial arts hero hailed for breaking taboos over motherhood in elite sport by bringing her baby to training.
So when the French judo star, Clarisse Agbégnénou, took the bronze medal in the under-63kg category on Tuesday and held aloft her baby daughter, Athéna, the adoring crowd went wild.
Even if Agbégnénou, the six-times world champion who won two gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, did not win gold on her home turf in Paris – the Slovenian Andreja Leski took that prize – the fervour of French supporters was a taste of what is to come for key appearances by two other national judo stars later this week, Teddy Riner and Romane Dicko.
France is indisputably a judo nation. The martial art traditionally yields more French Olympic medals than any other sport. So far the Paris games is no exception – by the end of the fourth day, judo had provided more of France’s haul of 17 medals than any other sport.
For decades French athletes have excelled at this so-called gentle, but tactical, martial art where competitors must remain respectful while grappling, throwing and pinning their opponents. France is second globally only to Japan, who invented the sport.
Other countries, not least Japan itself, have marvelled at how and why France is so good at producing judo champions. The answer in part is because judo is one of France’s most popular and most played sports, with around 500,000 people practising in more than 5,700 clubs. There is a tradition of talent-spotting pre-teens and a focus on excellence in coaching.
Hopes for French judo golds are now focused on Friday’s appearance on the tatami mat by Riner, champion in the +100kg category and one of France’s most popular athletes. Riner is a kind of Kylian Mbappé of martial arts, an always-smiling powerhouse who has enthralled the nation since he emerged as a talented teenager. He is regularly on front pages, described as the nation’s teddy bear.
Riner once went more than nine years without being beaten. He was a torch-carrier lighting the Olympic cauldron at the Paris opening ceremony and is hoping, at the age of 35, for another gold.
Also appearing on Friday will be the young women’s judo star, Dicko, 24, who competes in the +78kg category. She was recently praised for hitting back at what she called fatphobia in France, calling for an end to abuse on social media over her weight. “Grow up,” she said in an Instagram post. “I’m an elite athlete and I have love-handles. Yes that exists. It hasn’t stopped me doing judo at a very high level, it didn’t stop me winning world championship and winning medals at the Tokyo Olympics.”
Meanwhile Agbégnénou, 31, said of her bronze medal: “I won’t stop here,” and promised to continue to the Los Angeles Games in 2028.
Agbégnénou’s popularity in France rests on her extraordinary personal story. She was born premature in the Brittany city of Rennes, where she had major kidney surgery as a tiny baby, and was in a coma. She is now a patron of premature baby charities. Talent-spotted as a teenager, she received elite training and quickly rose up the ranks to become one of France’s biggest judo stars, in both individual and team competitions.
She said in the run-up to the Paris Olympics that her trailblazing for elite women athletes who had children was one of her biggest achievements – she took her baby to training in order to feed her. “I want women athletes who follow me to feel free and legitimate, to break codes to change mentalities and change the rules. We can have a life as a woman and mother as well as champion at the same time,” she told Le Parisien before competing in Paris.
The British judo star, Lucy Renshall, was knocked out of the contest before the medals phase. “I felt fit, I felt good, I felt strong,” she said. “I felt good after my first fight, but I suppose in judo, one score can call it. The better person won on the day.”
The silver medal in the -63kg category went to Prisca Awati-Alcaraz, the first Mexican woman to win a medal in the sport.
