The European Judo Championship begins Friday in Montpellier. A meeting which is of capital importance for the French team, while the Olympic selection is still being played out between two tricolors in several categories for the Paris Olympics.
Published on: 03/11/2023 – 2:15 p.m.
5 mn
This is an event not to be missed for the judokas of the French team. The European Judo Championships open on Friday November 3 in Montpellier and, beyond the prospect of a great victory at home, it is indeed a selection for the Paris Olympics which is at stake for most of the Blues .
For a country as competitive in this martial art as France, the law of the Games is ruthless: only one representative per country and per weight category.
Read alsoThe gargantuan ambitions of French judo for the Paris Olympics
“It’s a key step in the selection for the Games. If one of us is European champion, we’re not going to say that his place is assured, but he’s getting closer to selection. So obviously, we will have to be strong in this competition”, summarizes Luka Mkheidze, bronze medal in Tokyobut not yet sure of being there in Paris.
Romain Valadier-Picard dreams of competing in the Games in the under 60 kg category and thus stealing his place from the resident of PSG Judo. “That’s how it is, that’s the game. It’s the law of the strongest,” he told AFP. “I can’t imagine myself doing the Games or anything yet. I’m taking part in the European Championships and a place in the Games has to be won. For the moment, I haven’t won it and the competition is tough” , he adds on Eurosport.
Duel sororicide
The standard bearers of French judo, Teddy Riner (+100 kg) and Clarisse Agbégnénou (-63 kg) are protected from competition for the Olympic ticket. The first preferred to skip it and fly off for a training course in Japonc, leaving it to Aurélien Diesse to represent France in his category. The second will not have a French competitor in its category, Saturday November 4.
On the other hand, the fight will be tough among the men: Walide Khyar and Maxime Gobert will battle in -66 kg, while Alexis Mathieu will have to watch Axel Clerget in -90 kg. For women, the duel between Madeleine Malonga, reigning Olympic vice-champion, and the returning Audrey Tcheuméo, silver medal in Rio and bronze in London and recent 2nd in the world championships, promises to be spectacular.
For Marie-Ève Gahié and Margaux Pinot, the race for the Games looks in every way like a sororicidal duel. Respectively 8th and 11th in the world, they can both claim the ticket. The two PSG judo teammates had already experienced a similar battle three years ago for Tokyo. A duel which ended up turning to the advantage of Margaux Pinot.
“It’s new! We will have to be concentrated until the last moment (…), it’s a real battle,” announces Margaux Pinot. “(The Euro) is going to be decisive somewhere, maybe not 100%, but it will be very important. So we will have to be in the best shape and go for a nice medal.”
If this constant rivalry is not always easy to live with for the two judokates, they both want to believe that this fight is pulling them to the top.
“It can be tiring at times to have such competition, but it’s also a ‘booster’. We don’t rest on our laurels and therefore we are forced to find small details on which to improve at every moment “, says Pinot.
“I try to think of myself before thinking of Margaux,” explains Marie-Ève Gahié. “Maybe in 2021 I wasn’t mature enough, focus.”
“Like any pressure, I try to transform it into good pressure,” adds the Parisian. “There are times when it’s true that we can take it a little negatively, but it can also help me to say to myself: ‘Don’t give up’. Afterwards, I don’t use it to evolve either. I have my frame, I know where the objective is.”
A rich man’s problem but a headache
For French management, this density of athletes is also a headache. How can we put them in the best conditions and keep a manageable working atmosphere when stress and rivalries are exacerbated as the Paris Games approach?
Christophe Massina, the head of the French women’s team, tried to refocus his athletes: “The objective is not to qualify for the Olympics, but to bring back European titles!, recalls he in West France, before completing. “We talk a lot about the Olympics around them, but our role is to calm all that down. What happens afterward will happen, but here, the goal is to continue to progress.”
To avoid headaches in the face of this problem of the rich, the judo federation has clarified its “selection path” for the Olympics. Three moments will be decisive in the final choice of the FFJ: at the end of the Euro, where any gold medal will almost already be worth a direct ticket to the Olympics. End of February, after the Grand Slams in Paris and Tel Aviv – if the latter takes place. And finally in May after the European Championships in Croatia
“In communication, announcements will be made on the tatami, over a set time, set, after validation by the selection committee,” explains Sébastien Mansois, the national technical director. “The goal is to make this as non-violent as possible.” It will take all the teaching in the world to explain to an athlete that his life’s dream of competing in the Olympic Games at home is collapsing…
Paris hosts the 2024 Olympic Games from July 26 to August 11. © FMM Graphic Studio
