Olympic victory at home

Fourth gold medal for Frenchman Teddy Riner

Teddy Riner is a four-time Olympic champion.(Bild: AFP/APA/Jack GUEZ)

France's superstar Teddy Riner has become the first judoka to win Olympic gold for the fourth time. The 35-year-old triumphed in the over 100 kg category in Paris on Friday after his individual Olympic victories in London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016 as well as team gold in Tokyo in 2021. In the final, he defeated South Korean world champion Kim Min-jong with ippon in front of President Emmanuel Macron, sending the crowd in the Champ de Mars arena into ecstasy.

Riner is the biggest star in his sport and now also the record winner. Japan's Tadahiro Nomura had triumphed three times in a row between 1996 and 2004. In the team event on Saturday, he could win his seventh medal in his fifth Olympic appearance. The heavyweight won individual bronze in Beijing and Tokyo in 2008. He has also been world champion eleven times. At the opening ceremony of his home games, the judo ace lit the Olympic flame together with former track and field athlete Marie-José Pérec.

President Macron congratulates Riner:

Georgian disqualified
In the quarter-finals, Riner had won a heated duel with Georgian Guram Tushishvili. His 29-year-old opponent was subsequently disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct and removed from the competition.

Riner had thrown the Olympic silver medalist from Tokyo onto his back and defeated him by ippon. Tushishvili had then brought the Frenchman down with his legs and bent over him. When Riner tried to get up, the Georgian knocked him over again with his hips.