The disappointment is immense. "It's a world final, unfortunately I missed it, it's frustrating," says Audrey Tcheuméo. He missed something. Mentally, I was there, I wasn't there, I had cramps and I got caught up in this thing. The Frenchwoman, however, came to nothing of what would have been an extraordinary feat.
Long barred in the category of less than 78 kg by Madeleine Malongo, the judokate of Seine-Saint-Denis is making, at 34 years old, a return to the foreground. "Like a phoenix rising from the ashes," smiles Christophe Massina, the head of the women's France team.
Audrey Tcheuméo is vice-world champion! 🤩🇫🇷
Our Frenchwoman won her 4⃣first medal at the World Championships. 💪
Bravo Tchoumi! 👏 #JudoWorlds #GoLesBleus #FierdEtreJudoka pic.twitter.com/b0l06Cf1EJ
— France Judo (@francejudo) May 12, 2023
In Doha, before falling in the final against the Israeli Inbar Lanir, "Tchoumi" walked on water, winning in the semifinals against the Dutch Guusje Steenhuis (although her head hit a billboard, fortunately without gravity) and especially by defeating, masterfully in the quarterfinals, the Japanese Shori Hamada. The same Japanese woman who in the final of the Tokyo Games, in 2021, had beaten Madeleine Malonga. "I'm proud of myself, I've come a long way," says Audrey Tcheuméo. Next year I will be ready, I will be Olympic champion. »
The return of a champion
We can already imagine the puzzle that the French coaches will have to solve before the Olympics in Paris, knowing that there will only be one ticket in a category of which Audrey Tcheuméo, with her warrior look, has long been the queen. Daughter of two Cameroonian internationals (father was a footballer, mother handballer), Tcheuméo, as endearing as hard to evil, is crowned world champion in 2011, seven years after discovering judo "by chance."
The beginning of a brilliant career, marked by two Olympic silver medals, in London (2012) and Rio (2016). All this before the advent of another phenomenon, Madeleine Malonga, who, in the final of the 2018 European Championships, takes the upper hand over her compatriot. Audrey Tcheuméo, a real steamroller of the tatamis, has since had to settle for supporting roles.
In turn world champion in 2019, "Mado" Malonga logically won the ticket for the Tokyo Olympics, leaving "Tchoumi" in a torrent of tears. At 33, she was thought to be ready to hang up, to turn to fashion, another of her passions with the NBA and football. Even if she thought about it, it was a misunderstanding of Audrey and her rage to win.
After the silver of the Olympics, Malonga followed with a European bronze medal, before (temporarily?) passing away. Audrey came back in full light, 2nd of the Masters in 2022, then winner of the tournaments of Paris and Antalya. Rage in the stomach. The steamroller is back. "We must not let go of anything in life, which is made of ups and downs. My parents taught me that," she recalled after her victory at the Paris tournament in February. One year before the Paris Games, no one would like to be in the place of the selectors.
