At 21, Romane Dicko is the youngest of the French judo team at the Tokyo Olympics.
But like her elder, the flag bearer Clarisse Agbegnenou, she gleaned a medal from the legendary Nippon Budokan.
If she has long hoped for it to be golden, it will eventually be bronze.
However, the progress made is already immense since the last Olympiad to date.
16-year-old Romane Dicko went to Rio with her club as a spectator.
"I was amazed, it was crazy. It was a chance to attend the benchmark competition in the world of judo. For me, I was a little girl and I was going to see the grown-ups," recalls the judoka. for the Olympics website.
It was at the Rio Games, where we went to encourage the French with my club.
I was 16, and I dreamed of the 2024 Olympics.
5 years later, after operations, years of injuries and challenges, I am selected for the 2021 Olympics ... WOWđ» pic.twitter .com / lRuvsHb83E
- Romane Dicko (@romane_dicko) April 7, 2021
"Next time it's you"
While witnessing Emilie Andéol's victory in the + 78kg category, the brand new Olympic champion sees her in the stands.
The one who now comments on the exploits of Romane Dicko for France Televisions has a premonitory intuition.
"She said 'next time it's you!'
It seemed crazy. It was a dream, but it seemed far away, unattainable. I was hoping to have a chance to be on the mat for the Paris 2024 Games. At that point, I did not think at all that in four years, I was going to be there ", remembers Romane Dicko.
However, it is from Tokyo that she represents France.
Indeed, the months following Rio are those of its birth.
She won the French championships when she was not yet a black belt.
Two years later, she was crowned European champion.
The click starts here.
âWinning a championship, it marks the spirits. That day, I beat girls who had international medals. I was young but I managed to make results by beating girls who are strong. I was aiming for the World Championships to maintain this good momentum when the Olympic qualifying phase began. I felt that I was able to go for this selection, "she explains.
The eclipse and qualification
The rest is not, however, a long quiet river. The young woman has a series of injuries: first to the shoulder, then to the knee. She disappears from the world circuit but takes the opportunity to reshape her body and her technical palette. It takes nearly 20 kg to digest its passage among seniors where the differences in weight are more important. And she enriches her panel of holds to have a solution in the face of opponents who are starting to know her harai-goshi by heart, a hip sweep.
If the return to competition is complicated with early eliminations at the French championships and the Grand slam in Osaka in November 2019, the rest is very encouraging.
She has simply remained invincible since winning six tournaments in a row: Tel Aviv Grand Prix 2020 and 2021, Paris Grand Slam 2020, European Championship 2020, Doha Masters 2021 and Kazan Grand Slam 2021.
A series of invincibility which unfortunately ended against Cuban Idalys Ortiz, world number 1 in the semi-final of the Olympic tournament.
A setback that Romane Dicko was able to quickly overcome to get a bronze medal.
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