Tokyo (AFP)

Clarisse Agbégnénou, flag bearer of the French delegation to the Tokyo Olympics, was crowned Tuesday Olympic champion in judo in the -63 kg category, a gold medal which crowns her breathtaking record.

To win this medal, the sixth for the Blues and the second in gold in Tokyo after that of the swordsman Romain Cannone, Agbégnénou, already five times world champion and five times European champion, was beaten by waza-ari in the golden score Slovenian Tina Trstenjak, who had dominated in the final of the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

With this success, the Frenchwoman erases the terrible disappointment of 2016, when she felt that her silver medal was "not the right one".

Since that date, she had been waiting for the possibility of taking her revenge and had particularly badly experienced the postponement of the Tokyo Games decided last year.

The fact that she won her Olympic title against Trstenjak, who also deprived her of the gold medal at the 2015 Worlds, gives a special flavor to her success.

"I was on a mission. Going for this gold medal, it was not easy, I do not have the words. It's incredible, to take my revenge five years later, I could not have dreamed of better . This path has been long and hard, I am so happy to bring back this gold medal ", she said in tears just after her victory, interviewed by France Television.

Before beating the Slovenian, Agbégnénou (28) had advanced without a hitch in the table.

She had thus started her tournament with an expeditious victory against Cape Verdean Sandrine Billiet, beaten by ippon in 19 seconds.

In the quarter-final, the Frenchwoman faced a slightly tougher opponent, the Dutch Juul Franssen, twice bronze medalist at the world championships and once at the European championships, finally beaten by waza-ari.

In the semifinals, the Canadian Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard was also defeated by waza-ari.

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French judo has now won four medals since the start of these Games, bronze on Saturday for Luka Mkheidze in the -60 kg category, silver on Sunday for Amandine Buchard in -52 kg, the same metal on Monday for Sarah-Léonie Cysique in - 57 kg, and Agbégnénou's gold.

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