The Bragard Axel Clerget, for his big comeback in competition, in Bercy, after the Tokyo Games, was beaten in the last seconds of his first fight. For a first in -100 kg, the Haut-Marnais, short of judo, nevertheless showed great things on Sunday February 6.
Judo, like sport in general, can be both beautiful and cruel. The 34-year-old Bragard Axel Clerget, who has not appeared in competition since his title at the mixed team Olympic Games at the end of July, can confirm this. Dominating against Croatian Kumric, 26e world, Sunday February 6, for his first in -100 kilos, with an advantage of a “waza-ari”, on an interior mowing which is one of his specialties, and two penalties to one in his favor, the Haut-Marnais bowed a few seconds from the gong, on one of the rare attacks of his opponent (a winding). Infuriating!
“As long as Axel shifted to the right, it was good. With the fatigue, he had an absence of a few seconds which made the difference and the Croatian took the opportunity to attack on the other side, ”sums up his father, Francis. A feeling shared by the judoka.
“I must never lose”
“I must never lose. I lead and I feel Kumric completely explode. The fight is under control, even if there was not much on the ground. And yet, it is heavy and powerful in front. He tried to push me to the edge of the mat. At the end, there is a moment when I don’t make the effort on the sequence. It works in training. When you are less tired, you must manage to put yourself back in front. I step back and he seizes the opportunity. He has nothing more to lose. It’s good. It shows he’s a champion, while I’m focused. I didn’t do the job. There is justice. I told you I was untrained. It would have been a scam to pass. In sport, sometimes, we say that there is no justice. There, there is one. I arrived to please myself and to be in front of this public. That feels good. I would have liked to go to the end and shake Bercy. I’m going up in category, I’m not trained and luckily I lose. It’s the high level, ”summarizes the Bragard, licensed in Sucy, who returns from a big operation in October, a pubalgia which handicapped him every day for a year and a half.
If his body left him alone this time on Sunday, the lack of training, plus the Covid, got the better of the hopes of the European, world (individual) and Olympic (mixed team) medalist. It is also the second time, after 2007, his first tournament in Paris, that Axel has been eliminated from the start. Since then, and especially since 2017, his list of winners has grown significantly, with several Parisian podiums as well. “I don’t regret having lined up. I enjoyed getting back into competitive condition, rediscovering the atmosphere of Bercy, and feeling this audience always behind me, and I’ll see you next year. It’s a match that I have to pass by being trained. This gives me the “slab” to go back. It was what was needed. With the flower in the rifle, you get “twisted”. It’s normal, ”continues Axel Clerget, of which it was the last with Christophe Massina, his coach in the France team since 2017.
“A big training block”
On the next competitions, which will not arrive for several months, Axel Clerget could again align in -100 kg. “We will take stock, but I think so. What happens next will be a big training block. I need it. I am going to train with foreigners this week, and then I want to do an internship abroad per month, i.e. three to four months of judo, to find the automatisms, the reflexes, to express myself, ”continues the champion , who does not yet know if he will be aligned with the European championships, at the end of April, in Prague. “The Federation seems to have a different policy, with the launch of young people. But the skin of the “old man” will be worth a lot (smiles). I’m not going to lose in the first round every time. We know what I am capable of. Three months after an operation, I was able to do a painless warm-up, express myself calmly. It was far from being won and the challenge has been met, even if it’s not in the best of ways. And that revives this 2024 Olympiad. Two years ago, I had made the tournament with old pains. Since Bercy 2020, I haven’t been able to train for more than three months in two years. There is no secret. I want, I have the physical, I have the weapons to find the very high level. I take a -100 kg and I finish without pain. It’s something new”, concludes the judoka, who keeps smiling after very difficult weeks and months.
Nicolas Chapon
n.chapon@a-guiguejhm-fr
And immediately
The girls at the party
As often in recent years, the French have brought back a maximum of medals, in Paris. After the gold of Buchard, Saturday, in -52 kg, Margaux Pinot, in -70 kg, Audrey Tcheuméo, in -78 kg, imposed themselves. In addition to silver for Romane Dicko, in +78 kg, and bronze for Julia Tolofua (+78 kg) and Madeleine Malonga (-78 kg). For the boys, there was no podium on Sunday.
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The image made the rounds on social media. On Saturday, French judoka Priscilla Gneto was disqualified after dropping her phone on the tatami. She had forgotten it in her pocket.
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