His goal being to participate in the Paris Olympics in 2024, Teddy Riner therefore wants to pay attention to his body.

Several times injured in recent years, the judo champion admitted on Monday that he feared injury.

"The truth is that when I get on a mat, I'm scared," he said a few days before the Grand Slam in Paris.

"(During my training camp) in Kazakhstan, I was very afraid of injuring myself, because you had to see the templates in front," he added during a press briefing at the Judo Institute in Paris.

“Today, time counts”

Seriously injured in a knee a few months before the 2020 Olympics, the ten-time world champion had contracted a sprained right ankle at the end of August when a training partner fell on him during an internship in Morocco.

This injury forced him to forfeit the Worlds in October.

"It's never easy to come back from an injury, especially this one where I avoided the operation," continued Riner, who will participate in the ninth Paris Tournament of his career on Sunday.

“Today, time counts.

If there is one event you can't miss, it's these Olympics at home, so today (…) I'm paying attention.

All the staff are focused on it.

“And above all, we continue to listen to the body.

When there is information that says "today, we are less well", well we ease off, it does not matter.

In the past I would have said "It's being weak to slow down, you have to continue".

No, today we are doing quality, ”explained the 33-year-old judoka, three and a half months before the Doha World Championships.

Objective: a "third individual Olympic gold medal"

By 2024, each tournament will serve as preparation for the major Olympic Games.

“I don't want to miss out, I want to succeed at home.

I want to go for this third individual Olympic gold medal,” he said.

“Today, we are a few days away from the Paris Grand Slam, I am super happy, super excited because Paris is not just any Grand Slam.

I want to succeed in front of my family, in front of my friends and find this public.

It's gonna be something!

“, he finally warned.

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  • Paris 2024 Olympics

  • Olympic Games

  • Teddy Riner

  • Sport

  • Judo

  • Paris

  • Ile-de-France