Riner, 33, has not stepped on the international tatami mats since the Tokyo Olympics last summer, where he left with an individual bronze medal and a team title.

Since then, he has only participated in the French Team Championships with his PSG club in November 2021 in Perpignan, then in Villebon-sur-Yvette in May.

"The goal is to gauge yourself," Riner told AFP from Marrakech where he is fine-tuning his preparation, before flying to Hungary.

"It's knowing where I stand on my judo and where I stand on the international stage."

In the perspective of Paris-2024, where he will try to win a third individual Olympic title, the Budapest tournament constitutes for the Guadeloupean a crossing point which he says to approach "frankly serenely".

"We are two years away from the Games. The main thing for me is to prepare for these Olympic Games and to arrive with all the cards in hand to bring them down at the right time," he said.

"So when I get on a Grand Slam (the most prestigious category of tournaments on the world circuit, editor's note), it's to go and situate myself in relation to adversity", continues the ten-time world champion.

"Winning if the possibility is there and of course taking as much information as possible to progress and to be able to continue with this in mind to win the Games."

Brazil, Mongolia, Spain

The Grand Slam in the Hungarian capital should also allow him to take points to climb the world rankings and hope for a seeded status at the 2024 Olympics.

"It's not because I've already qualified for the Games that I don't want to be well in the table," says the man who is currently ranked 17th in the world in his category, over 100 kg. .

During his preparation, Riner went on an internship abroad, in Spain a few days ago, in Mongolia in May or even in Brazil in March.

Objective of these trips: to confront an adversity that he misses in France.

"I have no other choice but to seek out the competition where it is," he says.

French President Emmanuel Macron (c.), alongside Mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois Olivier Klein, Sports Minister Amélie Oudea-Castera, French Judo Champion Teddy Riner, President of the French Judo Federation Stéphane Nomis, during a break dance exhibition as part of the inauguration of a dojo in Clichy-sous-Bois, June 8, 2022 CHRISTIAN HARTMANN POOL / AFP

In Rio, he had added to his program a Brazilian jiu-jitsu course for work focused on "ne waza", ground combat.

"When I do that, I save time in my preparation. In Brazilian jiu-jitsu, they have a lot of techniques that make it possible to be much better in judo".

Before approaching the meeting in Budapest, he says he is physically fit despite the "wear and tear" of the years.

In any case, he escaped the covid which affected the French women's team during an internship last week in Alicante and which deprived the Bleues of the trip to Hungary.

After the competition, "we will take stock to find out where I am, what we are doing and what path we are taking", he continues.

"I can't wait, I want to know," he said.

"It's important to know if what we have worked on works well and if we continue to work in this direction. That way we are quickly fixed".

While waiting for 2024, Teddy Riner will take part in the World Championships in October in Uzbekistan, a first since the 2017 Worlds. That year, he went to Marrakech for the tenth planetary title of his career, a record.

© 2022 AFP