Cataclysm at Nippon Budokan.
Teddy Riner says goodbye to his Olympic treble dream.
The French fell this Friday morning in Tokyo in the quarterfinals against Russian Tamerlan Bashaev.
The two-time French Olympic champion (2012, 2016) started his tournament with a quick victory by ippon over Austria's Stephan Hegyi in just over two minutes on the mat.
Then in the next round, Riner had won at the end of regulation time on waza-ari against the Israeli Or Sasson.
In the quarter-finals, he faced the formidable Russian Tamerlan Bashaev, world number one heavyweight, vice-world champion and reigning European champion.
Riner had beaten him in January at the Doha Masters, the only competition he played this season before the Olympics.
But this time, he faltered in the “golden score”.
A fatal fall just after regulation time.
More information to follow.