It was a tipping point in his career: September 13, 2010 in Tokyo, the capital of Japan, country of Judo, were the World Championships. At the end of the final in all categories, the judges decide: gold for the Japanese Daiki Kamikawa and silver for Teddy Riner. The Frenchman doesn't believe it, he is 21 years old, he has won everything for more than 2 years. On the tatami, he does not shake his opponent's hand and, on the podium, the 2.03 meter colossus cries like a child.
In front of the France 2 camera, he cries injustice: "If he had deserved it, no worries, I'm not someone who bursts into tears like that. I was fooled, I was robbed, that's all that happened." 5 months later, the time for revenge has come: at home at the Grand Slam in Paris, in the over 100 kilos category, Teddy Riner finds Daiki Kamikawa. This time, he gives his rival no chance. Ippon in 1 minute 21 seconds, it's done, here is the conqueror – prouder than ever – posing ostensibly in front of the stopwatch. And it is the turn of the Japanese, humiliated, to shed his tear.
Its main strength: the mind
In the process, and until 2020, the Frenchman remains invincible, almost 10 years of victories. Teddy Riner is 130 kilos of muscle and pride. In M le Monde magazine he admits: “Even at board games, I hate losing.” The same goes for training, when he accelerates with his coach. In the documentary In the Shadow of Teddy Riner, Armelle O'Brien, the physiotherapist who knows him perfectly, declares: "The monstrous side of Teddy is not the physical, it's the mental!"
This mentality, Teddy Riner understands very early that it must be worked on. When he arrived at INSEP, the factory of champions, he was only 15 years old, and yet he decided, and he was one of the first judokas to do so, to consult a psychologist. Because he fights athletes who are 5, 10, even 15 years older than him and it’s cruel. He remembers it in his friend Tony Parker's podcast: "I was all the time with all four irons in the air. But I got up, all the time and I didn't shut up. I got up. Standing up, I could still fight. On the ground, I was useless, they were choking me, they were holding me. But I got up, I got up, I got up. In the morning, as soon as my alarm went off, I did 50 push-ups for tell myself: this way, I will be stronger!”
His faithful psychologist, Meriem Salmi, analyzes: “Teddy will never tolerate defeat. Even if he does something about it, it makes him terribly sad.” And sadness is not his thing. 3 years after his arrival at Insep, at 18, he became the youngest World Champion in the history of men's judo. On France 3, he relishes: "3 years ago I was nothing, I was being crushed by everyone and little by little, thanks to my mentality, I began to impose myself on the tatami mats. Now, I am European Champion, Senior World Champion while being a junior."
Never underestimate your opponent
Teddy Riner is a gifted sportsman. From the age of 5, he tried a multitude of things: climbing, swimming, golf, tennis, squash, he could also have become a footballer, basketball player. He chose judo. And he loves competition. His goal: to be stronger than Moses, his big brother. These two fight all the time and once, while still children, they faced each other in competition.
Another painful and founding memory for Teddy Riner (in Tony Parker's podcast): "As I used to beat him in training, the day there were parents I wanted to look good. I underestimated my brother. And he swept me aside when I was losing concentration. I was disgusted because I couldn't show myself. From that day on, I said: never again will I underestimate the opponent on the day of a competition."
Teddy Riner knows that, without solid experience, and without having fallen on the mat several times, it is difficult if not impossible to climb to the top of the podium. “Impossible”, a word that does not seem to be part of his vocabulary…
