Tokyo (AFP)

Olympic Judo Champions in Japan, against Japan.

Can we do better than that?

The French judo team on Saturday won an extraordinary gold medal in the new mixed event, which crowns its beautiful week in Tokyo and confirms the strength of a collective magnified by talents like Clarisse Agbégnénou and Teddy Riner.

"We took possession of the Budokan!", Summarized Guillaume Chaine, who like every member of the France team brought his touch to the successful masterpiece in the temple of judo and concluded with a breathtaking 4-1 success against Japan.

Of course, Agbégnénou, already crowned Monday in individual, was astounding, with two successes against judokas who evolve in the category above his own, that of -70 kg when she normally fights in -63 kg.

And what judokas!

Quite simply the Japanese Olympic champion Chizuru Arai and the Dutch bronze medalist Sanne Van Dijke.

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Of course, Riner was monstrous.

He found the Israeli Or Sasson, already beaten on Friday in individual and extended him with a new ippon with a big smile.

Then he exhausted in the final the Japanese Aaron Wolf, Olympic champion of -100 kg, beaten by waza-ari.

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- Everyone's medal -

But this gold medal is therefore also that of Chaine and his two points scored in the first two matches, that of Axel Clerget, disappointed with his individual tournament and who, on Saturday, won two out of three fights, that of Margaux Pinot , came back on the mat to bring the decisive point of a poorly fitted first round against Israel against the opponent who had just beaten it after 12 minutes of fierce confrontation, that of Sarah-Léonie Cysique, carried in triumph by Rinse after winning the point of the gold medal, huge on the mat and tiny in the arms of the giant.

Everyone's.

"It represents a lot of things, this medal. We thought about it all season long at this France-Japan final, we had it in the back of our mind," Riner summed up after his fifth Olympic medal.

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"It represents years of work, the fact of being able all together to achieve great things, to surpass each other. We will all remember for a long time the efforts made today. Now we are linked. In any case, I, I will never forget this moment ", he assured.

All day, the Guadeloupe did not appear frustrated by his bronze the day before in individual and led the team.

He pushed, talked to everyone, kissed Romane Dicko and then jumped everywhere and launched the war cries and songs of victory.

In front of the press, he told all this, his joy and his pride, and spoke directly to his teammates.

"I'm proud of you. It's amazing. You don't realize, but it's crazy stuff we did."

- Gourmet Benboudaoud -

Because Riner is a lover of judo and Japan and he knows what this medal represents, which was presented to him by Yasuhiro Yamashita, heavyweight legend, Olympic champion and four times world champion.

He also said he rushed to tell Tadahiro Nomura that he too was now a three-time Olympic champion, although the Japanese was the only one to have three individual gold medals.

"Judo here in Tokyo is hellish. That's where it was created. And we were happy to win 4-1 against the Japanese in the final. It's full of emotions that go overwhelm us, which will even shatter us, "he said.

Extremely proud of the strength of the blue collective, Larbi Benboudaoud, coach of women and director of high performance, for his part savored the results of this week at eight medals, a record for French judo.

"We finish with this Marseillaise, it's great," he said, before being a bit difficult.

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"I don't know if it's the coach or the champion that I was speaking, but we know that there are a few that could be turned into gold. When you are a competitor, you like the wins, "he said.

He knows that Paris-2024 is already not so far away.

© 2021 AFP