Teddy Riner

Teddy Riner

Teddy Riner in 2016
Personal information
Full name Teddy Pierre-Marie Riner
Nickname(s) Teddy Bear, Big Ted
Nationality French
Born (1989-04-07) 7 April 1989
Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, France
Height 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)[1]
Weight 140 kg (309 lb)[1]
Sport
Country  France
Sport Judo
Event(s) + 100kg
Club JC Levallois
Turned pro 2007–
Coached by Christian Chaumont, Benoît Campargue

Teddy Pierre-Marie Riner (French: [tɛ.di/te.di ʁi.nœʁ/ʁi.nɛʁ]; born 7 April 1989 in Les Abymes in Guadeloupe) is a French judoka. He has won eight World Championships gold medals, the first and only judoka (male or female) to do so, and two Olympic gold medals. He has also won five gold medals at the European Championships. He is a member of the Levallois Sporting Club in Levallois-Perret, France.

Personal life

Riner was born on 7 April 1989 in Les Abymes near Pointe-à-Pitre, on the island of Guadeloupe. He was raised in Paris.[2][3] He was enrolled at a local sports club by his parents and played football, tennis and basketball, but says he preferred judo "because it is an individual sport and it's me, only me."[3]

He is 2.04 metres (6 ft 8 in) tall and weighs 136 kilograms (300 lb).[1][4] He is nicknamed "Teddy Bear",[5] or "Big Ted".[6]

Judo career

Riner is a member of the Levallois Sporting Club in Levallois-Perret, France and is coached by Christian Chaumont and Benoît Campargue.[6] He won the World and European junior titles in 2006.[3] In 2007, he won a gold medal at the European Judo Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on the day after his eighteenth birthday.[7] At the 2007 World Judo Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he became the youngest ever senior world champion when he won the heavyweight (+100 kg) event, defeating the 2000 Olympic gold medallist, Kosei Inoue of Japan, in the semi-final.[3][7]

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Riner competed in the men's heavyweight event.[2] He received a bye into the second round of the competition before beating Anis Chedli of Tunisia and Kazakhstan's Yeldos Ikhsangaliyev to advance to the semi-finals.[2] In the semis he was beaten by Uzbek judoka Abdullo Tangriev on the golden score, meaning Riner had to enter the repechage rounds.[2] In the repechage he defeated Andreas Tölzer and João Schlittler to reach a bronze medal final against Lasha Gujejiani of Georgia; Riner took the bronze medal by a score of one ippon, one yuko and one koka to nil.[2] In December 2008 he won his second World Championship gold medal at the Open weight Championships held in Levallois-Perret, France, by beating Alexander Mikhaylin of Russia in the final.[8][9]

Riner defeating Tölzer in 2010 World Judo Championships

Riner won his third world title at the 2009 World Championships in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He won bouts against Daniel McCormick, Vladimirs Osnachs, Ivan Iliev and Martin Padar in the pool stage before beating Marius Paškevičius in the semi-finals and Oscar Bryson in the final to take the gold medal.[10]

In 2010, he won two medals, a gold and a silver, at the World Championships in Tokyo. After winning the +100 competition Riner was defeated by Daiki Kamikawa of Japan in the final of open weight class by a 2–1 judge's decision.[11] After the bout, Riner refused to bow or to shake Kamikawa's hand, claiming that he "was robbed".[12]

Riner won his second European gold medal at the 2011 Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. He defeated Nodor Metreveli, Emil Tahirov and Zohar Asaf to win Pool A of the +100 kg competition before defeating Estonian Martin Padar in the semi-finals and Barna Bor of Hungary in the final to win the title.[13] At the 2011 World Judo Championships in Paris Riner won the gold medal in men's +100 kg division, beating Germany's Tölzer in the final. The result meant that Riner became the first ever male Judoka to win five world titles.[14][15][16] He won his sixth World Championship gold medal as part of the French side that won the team event.[7][17][18]

Riner was selected to compete for France at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England in the men's heavyweight event.[5][6] The event took place at ExCeL London on 3 August.[19] Riner won the gold medal by defeating Russia's Alexander Mikhaylin in the final.[20]

Riner registered during his career only eight defeats in international championship elite: He lost to Brayson and Toelzer in 2006, to Bianchessi and Rybak in 2007 and to Muneta and Vuijsters in 2008. The last two defeats he had in the 3rd round of the competition (heavyweight) of the Olympics of 2008 in front of Abdullo Tangriev before obtaining the bronze medal, and on 13 September 2010 for the title "any categories" of the world of Tokyo in front of Daiki Kamikawa, his last defeat in date, followed by a series of 98 victories, the last one in the final of the Olympic games in Rio defeating Hisayoshi Harasawa in the 100+ kg final.[21]

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Teddy Riner trivia". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Teddy Riner Biography". Sports Reference. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Creighton, Jessica (11 February 2012). "London 2012: Is Teddy Riner a judo legend at just 22?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  4. "50 worldwide contenders for 2012: Teddy Riner". BBC Sport. 7 October 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Guide to judo at the Olympics". RTÉ Sports. 28 June 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 "Teddy Riner". The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Limited. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  7. 1 2 3 "Teddy Riner Bio". NBC. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  8. "World Open Championships 2008" (pdf). European Judo Union. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  9. "Japan out to hunt Teddy Riner at World Championships". European Judo Union. 19 August 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  10. "Category +100 kg: Contest Sheet". International Judo Federation. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  11. "Judo: France's Riner cries after world championship defeat". Channel NewsAsia. 13 September 2010. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  12. Cheng, Maria (9 July 2012). "French behemoth Teddy Riner preps for London". Associated Press. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  13. "Category +100 kg: Contest Sheet". European Judo Union. Archived from the original on 10 March 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  14. "France's Riner wins record fifth world title". AFP. 28 August 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  15. "London 2012 – Riner wins record fifth judo world crown". Eurosport. Reuters. 27 August 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  16. Sheringham, Sam (18 July 2012). "London 2012: As good as gold – the Olympic dead certs". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  17. "Olympic sport this week". BBC Sport. 30 August 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  18. "French hosts seal record medal haul with team double". France 24. 28 August 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  19. "Men's +100kg". Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  20. "Riner strikes gold in Olympic heavyweight judo". Eurosport. Sportsbeat Reuters. 3 August 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  21. (in French)"Teddy Riner (+100 kg), en or, réussit le doublé olympique". L'Equipe.fr. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  22. "Marion Bartoli élue championne des championnes 2013 par RTL". RTL. 13 December 2013.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Nikola Karabatić
Florent Manaudou
French Sportsman of the Year
2012
2016
Succeeded by
Tony Parker
Incumbent
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Laura Flessel-Colovic
Flagbearer for  France
Rio de Janeiro 2016
Succeeded by
Incumbent

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