- Title: France's gold medallists in judo celebrate with fans in Paris
- Date: 2nd August 2021
- Summary: RINER AND AGBEGNENOU POPPING OPEN BOTTLES OF CHAMPAGNE AND SPRAYING IT ON FELLOW TEAM MEMBERS
- Embargoed: 16th August 2021 17:58
- Keywords: Clarisse Agbégnénou Teddy Riner Tokyo Olympics gold medallists judo mixed judo
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Europe,Judo,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA003EOL6HQ7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The French Judo team received a stirring welcome from fans as they returned to Paris on Monday (August 2) after clinching gold in the Tokyo Olympics.
Hundreds of fans turned up at the Trocadero gardens facing the Eiffel Tower to celebrate the victory.
The French team claimed the gold medal in the first mixed team judo event ever held in the Games on Saturday (July 31), beating Japan 4-1 in the final and helping their heavyweight legend Teddy Riner add to his collection of Olympic medals.
Leading the pack was Clarisse Agbegnenou, who won an individual gold medal, beating Slovenian opponent Tina Trstenjak.
It was a reversal of the Agbegnenou's fate at the Rio Olympics, where she settled for silver after losing to Trstenjak in the -63kg event.
With the mixed team win, Riner, 32, now has a tally of three golds and two bronze medals from his Olympics appearances.
The success helped to make up for his shock loss in Friday's (July 30) quarter-finals in the men's +100kg individual contest against Tamerlan Bashaev of the Russian Olympic Committee. The Frenchman had to settle for the bronze medal.
But he led the team to gold by beating Japanese gold medallist Aaron Wolf by an inner thigh throw to score a waza-ari win in a grueling 'Golden Score' sudden-death overtime.
He said he didn't yet want to think about the 2024 Olympics, to be held in Paris, and will take his time to recover from his injuries.
"Then voila, we will work to prepare for 2024."
Four other French judokas added to France's medal tally, with Madeleine Malonga winning silver and Romane Dicko bronze in the +78kg contest, and Sarah Leonie Cysique and Amandine Buchard getting silver in the -57kg and the -52kg categories, respectively.
"I've experienced great moments like this, but a lot of others in the team have never experience this... and I'm happy to experience this with them," Riner said.
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