Crowned twice during the Paris Games, Teddy Riner did not remain the most successful French athlete at the Games for long.
Teddy Riner couldn’t have dreamed of a more successful Olympic Games. Three years after having had to settle for bronze in Japan, the Guadeloupean won his third heavyweight title in Paris after those won in London in 2012 and in Rio in 2016.
And the next day, the native of Les Abymes saw it double by taking the French team to a new Olympic coronation, three years after that of Tokyo. As in a dream, Teddy Riner even had the privilege of competing in the decisive fight in the final against Japan, snatching victory at the end of the suspense against Saito.
Teddy Riner for a sixth title in LA
Hero of these Paris Games, just like Léon Marchand, Teddy Riner entered the legend of French sport even more as these two Olympic medals allowed him to become the most tricolor athlete at the Olympics. With now five gold medals – plus two bronze – the PSG member joined Martin Fourcade, crowned in the individual and the pursuit in Sochi in 2014 as well as in the pursuit, the mass start and the mixed relay in Pyeongchang in 2018.
But the decision of the sports referee to reject, on Tuesday, the appeal of the Russian Evgeny Ustyugov, gold medalist in the mass start in biathlon during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, changed the situation. Coming second in Canada, Martin Fourcade recovered fourteen years after a sixth Olympic title and once again became the most successful French athlete at the Games at the expense of Teddy Riner.
The Guadeloupean can nevertheless still hope to improve his mark since despite his 35 years, he has decided to continue until the Los Angeles Games in 2028. An Olympics where Leon Marchand, already quadruple Olympic champion, could make everyone agree…
