Clarisse Agbegnenou may be a world judo super-predator but she has lived too much to indulge in the sin of pride. Hers was already sorely affected five years ago at the Rio Games when she was beaten in the Olympic final by Slovenian Tina Trstenjak. For five years, she had tirelessly rehashed this failure.
Judoka can finally bridge the gap. Tuesday, July 27, at the Budokan in Tokyo, this starving tatami – five-time world and European champion – finally holds this gold medal, the only one missing from her collection, a gaping hole in her record of champion.
Additional flavor, she obtained this obscure object of desire by taking revenge on the one who had deprived her in Brazil of the expected title. The remake resulted in a bitter fight with Trstenjak. But miracles rarely happen twice. Especially when you face a starving champion. The French judo team now has four medals in four days, the first in gold thanks to the flag bearer of the French delegation.
“Clean up” the past
At the end of the Tokyo morning, just before her first two fights of the day – two easy victories against the Cape Verdean of Belgian origin Sandrine Billiet and against the Dutch Juul Franssen – the organizers carried out two disinfections of the tatami. As if it were symbolically “cleaning up” the past and erasing for good this cruel Carioca finale. Billiet was swept away in nineteen seconds, barely enough time for Agbegnenou to put on his tricolor tap dance and spin towards his golden destiny.
Like the star of the song, who waits behind the scenes for its first part to end, Clarisse Agbegnenou even draws the spotlight back. Blue white red tapers on the feet, hands on the hips and helmet on the ears, the champion gets ready and sways in rhythm. At his side, his loyal trainer Larbi Benboudadoud is never far away. The two friends exchange a few words.
The ritual is the same before each fight. Music helps him to channel himself. There is both impatience and relaxation. Despite doubts, humans, a champion can only visualize victory, never failure. “When I start something, I don’t want to give up. I tell myself that I am the best, that I will get there. I will do everything to have what I need in Tokyo ”, she explained to the World in April.
In the quarter-finals and semi-finals (against the Canadian Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard), in addition to her speedy reputation, she also displayed her propensity to manage a fight. To know how to be satisfied with two victories by waza-ari when his adversary resists the terrible pressure which it inflicts from the beginning of hostilities. And when her local rival – the Japanese Miku Tashiro – was eliminated in general amazement by a Polish fighter (Agata Ozdoba-Blach), the apprentice diviners could only detect a happy Olympic omen.
Five interminable years
Joined the day before during the regulatory weigh-in, his coach Larbi Benboudaoud did not need any signs to believe in his athlete: “She’s going to do the job. She fully assumes her favorite status just like a Teddy Riner ”, he assured. Three days before the future performance of Teddy Riner (his entry into the running is scheduled for Friday), in search of a third Olympic title, Clarisse Agbegnenou has shown the way. As patron of the France team. The ever so numerous presence of the tricolor clan in the stands of the Budokan is hardly deceptive.
Radiant, the new Olympic champion has not yet completed her mission. On Saturday July 31, she will try to lead her partners to a feat in the mixed team competition. Destroy Japanese judokas at home.
Then, it will be high time to take a break after five interminable years and a preparation shaken by the Covid. “In my head, I vaguely think about Paris 2024. It’s so far away. To leave for three years after five years is impossible. I’m going to need to cut ”, she delivered to World. Sabbatical leave will be more pleasant with the feeling of a job well done.