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Judo: Riner, the secrets of his metamorphosis

2021-01-11T06:49:40.477Z


He lost 26 kg, now eats a balanced diet and no longer feels any pain. Beaten twice in 2020, Teddy Riner returns to competition


The "New Riner" has arrived.

While the Doha Grand Prix begins this Monday, January 11 in a very strict health bubble, the double Olympic champion will return to the tatami mats on January 13, the day after the fights of the four-time world champion Clarisse Agbegnenou.

And it's an understatement to say that his two defeats in 2020 - at the Paris tournament in February and then at the French team championships in October - stung him to the heart.

Determined to conquer gold this summer at the Tokyo Olympics, Teddy Riner, 31, has really taken control.

A real questioning

The two slaps of 2020 were scathing.

Riner assumed.

“I asked myself what I really wanted: am I going to the Tokyo Games to do extras or am I approaching a new way of working to set the record straight?

"If during the first confinement (just after the defeat at Bercy), he had worked a lot on the physique in a specially equipped weight room, Riner has, in recent weeks, set up a new schedule.

The physical preparation sessions are now done in Levallois (Hauts-de-Seine), which allows him to go to Insep once a day and more than two.

Now attached full time to Insep, Yann Morisseau no longer manages the physics sessions.

Nico Kanning, loyal sparring partner for ten years, is no longer there.

No one has officially replaced him yet.

Franck Chambily (federal coach) and Laurent Calleja (coach at the PSG club) share the training, only the first is present in Doha because of health standards related to Covid.

A cooker for balanced eating

It was Teddy who said it: the time when he asked Eden, his 6-year-old son, where the packages of cakes were hidden is over.

The anecdote - pointing to the (significant) addiction of judoka for sweets - had been revealed by his partner, Luthna, in the documentary directed by Benoît Durand and Brice Baubit.

But that was before.

If he still loves pancakes, the champion is on a diet.

Here it is relieved of 26 kg.

“I haven't been so light since the London Games (Editor's note: in 2012)!

»Proudly announces Riner, 139 kg on the scale (he weighed 148 kg at the end of the first confinement).

“My nutritionists re-educated me in terms of food, a cook prepares the dishes for me.

I eat balanced and at fixed times.

"

More mobile on the mat

His defeat - after 154 straight victories - at Bercy against the Japanese Kokoro Kageura was dissected.

"I asked myself the questions so that this does not happen again," he insists.

Too heavy, beaten in his third fight of the morning after a first alert, the French notably lacked mobility.

Weight loss is part of the strategy implemented by its staff.

Here it is now lighter than in Rio in 2016 (142.5 kg).

Now Riner goes faster, triggers faster.

“I feel better in my judo, physically I'm good.

I no longer have any sores.

Only old age is still there!

At 31, the champion also emphasizes recovery.

Fewer trips to go to train, more stretching work, in particular thanks to gentle methods advocated by the doctor and yoga teacher Bernadette de Gasquet.

In Doha in search of landmarks

To benefit from a more favorable picture for the Games, Riner - who had stopped competing for twenty months between September 2017 and July 2019 - will have to grab points in the world rankings.

“In Doha, I'm going to look for opponents

(Editor's note: apart from the world number 1, Czech Krpalek, all the best are there)

and see where my level is.

“Especially since the inability to travel, and therefore to participate in internships abroad with heavy, turns out to be a handicap.

"In France, the possibilities to face heavy are quite limited since there are only two training, it becomes problematic", admits Riner, who hopes to participate in other international gatherings after Doha.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-01-11

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