Everyone knows and loves Teddy Riner. Judoka is one of the favorite personalities of the French, thanks in particular to a capital prize list, rich with two Olympic gold medals (and a bronze) and 10 titles of world champion, absolute record. But even the biggest fans will undoubtedly discover things that they did not know about their idol in the documentary proposed Monday evening by France 3 and soberly entitled Teddy .
>> Find Culture Médias in replay and podcast here
The 2.04 m, 131 kg giant had hopes of snatching a third gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2020, but due to the coronavirus crisis, he will have to wait next year. The idea of the documentary was to see the champion in full preparation for the competition. It will ultimately be a film in which the sportsman has agreed to be filmed in his daily life, even in his privacy. And, he swears Friday in Culture Media, on Europe 1, he was not involved in the choice of images.
"I am not to choose images that highlight me or not," says the champion at Europe 1. "The project is to follow an athlete with his sorrows and joys, his questions, what it is done, what does it do to prepare, lifestyle, the moment also when there is no lifestyle… "
His loved ones, including his wife and ... psychologist
Many of his relatives also appear in the documentary, including his psychologist. The film thus offers rare images, such as those of the birth of his daughter. The wife of Teddy Riner, who must share his champion with 66 million French people is also in the game. "We knew each other, he was world champion for the first time, so he was not known as he is today. And I didn't feel legitimate, because it was brand new, or because I'm too shy, "says Luthna. "Now we have been together for 10 years, we have known each other for 15 years, we have two children ..."
Teddy , a rare documentary, is Monday evening on France 3.