From our special correspondent in Tokyo,
"Imagine Teddy too?"
".
We remember quite clearly what app sent to colleagues at work just before Riner's quarterfinal against Bashaev, who followed half an hour of successive Waterloo to shoot off the Millau viaduct.
It was for fun.
The guy hasn't lost in a competition that matters since 2008, wasn't it going to start today?
Well, yes.
A badly pinned attack against Bashaev who was going to take his third pinch in the minute, by dint of waiting for it to happen.
BUT WHY TEDDY?
WHY ?????????
Franck Chambily, his coach, has the beginning of an answer:
“Teddy succeeds in training.
It's a little inverted soei, he manages to drop on it.
The other made an attack, not very good, he thought he was going to counter him, but his hand let go of the grip, he was on his heels, he went back.
Bashaev who is clever followed in the direction of the fall.
One might think that this is a mistake.
Perhaps it would have been necessary to continue the work of undermining, Teddy was leading two penalties to one, one could think that in the long term Bashaev would take the third ”.
When the referee decides to award a waza-ari, definitive since it is the golden score, Riner seems to see it as an injustice.
So Chambily sticks it in front of the screen, watching action two or three: “Teddy really had to be clairvoyant about what had happened.
The value is there.
Waza-ari is not a theft, and after that he was relieved.
On his own he reacted by saying "it's okay I'm going to get my place of three".
The third shido would fall for Bashaev
The discussion is a little embellished: we feel Riner not very clear about this defeat, the third in two years after more than 150 victories in a row. “I knew what he was going to do, so I tried to pull him out. And as you can see, my hand rips, my body is already launched. The referees say arm action, that's enough. I don't even want to come back to a refereeing error or not, even if we could chatter for hours. Why do the rules change on the day of the Games? Why did the penalties take a long time to fall? But it sucks to think that you have the level to pass it ”.
A little further, Bashaev, also tanned, motto with our Russian colleagues.
We arrive too late but we have time to intercept his coach, Kasanbi Taov: “Teddy Riner is a legend, but today Tamerlan has shown that he is human.
Every day, he trained to beat Teddy, he tried to find solutions ”.
And for the first time, he slipped through a mouse hole.
A scenario that will make Riner think if he decides to chase this third Olympic title in Paris, in three years.
We help it a little:
Can he afford to cut for too long and gain weight?
Brieuc Gové, Riner's new physical trainer, explained to us before the Games that the judoka had done a lot of work on his diet to no longer regain the pounds by ten, as after each big deadline.
"No more yo-yo, I eat better" confirms Riner, who at the same time zips the bag full of sweets that awaits him after this bronze medal.
Is the colossus able to remain reasonable, while the helping age (32 years), it requires more and more efforts to return to his level when he gets back to it?
Can he be content to fight once a year?
It's a bit easy to associate Riner's poor choice against Bashaev with his lack of pace, but the numbers are there: Between London and Rio, the four-time Olympic medalist had played 59 fights, including the final.
Since his tenth world title in 2017, the last challenge he set for himself, Riner has only appeared eleven times on the tatami mats.
And the Covid crisis did not help him, he who is naturally limited in his training in France by the lack of heavy weights.
Chambily also wonders: “We did what we could, with the period we all lived.
He may have lacked opposition partners.
We couldn't come to Japan, no internships abroad.
We did our best but maybe he missed these confrontations to have this lucidity against Bashaev ”.
Should we find recklessness in his judo?
Beyond this story of poorly controlled movement, Riner's quarterfinal was especially disappointing in the way, with a Frenchman who seemed to wait for the penalties for Bachaev without trying anything decisive, while he was dominant on the kumikata, grabbing hands.
It was a whole different fighter, almost freed, who sent Silva to the mat and then harassed Harasawa for bronze.
“The dead order after the quarter-final, it was fun.
I had fun ”.
"I had several coaches who came to see me, in particular to tell me Teddy" big big champion ", adds Chambily.
Even they were surprised to see him tear up against the Japanese for bronze ”.
Proof that Riner still has some under the hood when he launches into battle without calculating.
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