They are seven judokas, they are not mercenaries but intend to conquer Japan during the first Olympic week. From Saturday 24 to Saturday 31 July, the seven French women qualified for the Tokyo Games have the ambition – with more or less certainty – to climb on a podium.
Never has a French women’s team seemed so strong. And because it is impressive, we have to go through the list (in order of appearance), which already gives cold sweats to tough Japanese fighters: Shirine Boukli (- 48 kg), Amandine Buchard (- 52 kg), Sarah -Léonie Cysique (- 57 kg), Clarisse Agbegnenou (- 63 kg), Margaux Pinot (- 70 kg), Madeleine Malonga (- 78 kg) and Romane Dicko (+ 78 kg).
To shake the mythical Bundokan hall, already the scene of the 1964 edition at a time when women were excluded from the Olympic tatami, the French women are in battle order behind the one who was elected flag bearer of the French delegation. At 28, the five-time world champion Clarisse Agbegnenou is the only one of the gang to have already participated in the Games. And she is determined to make people forget her (relative) Brazilian failure, in Rio, in 2016: a silver medal. “I am convinced that if we are all well, we can bring back a medal in each category”, she predicts.
His lieutenant – Madeleine Malonga and Amandine Buchard – share the same mission order. “I think we’re the best. We are very, very strong. We will be expected by our results. Our adversaries will have the knives very sharp to beat us. But we are ready ”, says Malonga. And Buchard to outbid: “I think it’s a first that we can claim a grand slam. Afterwards, we are not immune to a surprise or two. “
“Winning is contagious”
When Teddy Riner alone conceals the crossing of the desert of men’s judo, Clarisse Agbegnenou, she found a group of friends to go on an adventure. “We women mature at a younger age. We are diligent, we created a group, she explains. Some are competing in their category. We are going into entrenchments that we would not have reached on our own. ”
In the midst of this history of women, the head coach, Larbi Benboudaoud, has a long experience behind him. Former world champion in 1999, he first took care of an Olympic champion, Lucie Décosse, before taking the helm of the French women’s team after the 2016 Olympics. “We have always had very successful women’s teams, there we have an even more substantial team. We relied a lot on the dynamics of group. You can’t be the best on the planet and train with low level people, he insists. I always say “winning is contagious”. We are trying to contaminate them… ”
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