The story could have been perfect and so beautiful for Cyrille Maret.
He, the collector of places of honor on the podiums (4 at the Worlds, 8 in Europe), the man seriously injured in a road accident a year ago, had the gold medal of over 100 kg at fingertips.
The Russian Inal Tasoev, 23, decided otherwise in the final fight of the 50th edition of the Grand Slam in Paris, which ended this Sunday evening at the Accor Arena.
Too bad for him and for the French, who are content with silver (5) and bronze (9) at the end of the two days of competition.
Silver medal for Cyrille Maret at the end of a magnificent day when he never gave up!
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THANKS for the emotions Cyrille!
đđ„ # JudoParis #FierdEtreJudoka pic.twitter.com/ScGoGXG6XX
- France Judo (@francejudo_) October 17, 2021
The day started well for the bronze medal at the Rio Games in 2016, accustomed to jousting in the lower category (less than 100 kg).
In the semifinals, Maret, 34, qualified at the expense of Joseph Terhec, world famous for having broken the invincibility of Teddy Riner last year.
The member of Sucy, who ended up in tears after his defeat by strangulation (ippon) in this fight full of emotions against Maret, brilliantly made up for the 3rd place against the Mongol Odkhuu.
This is not the first time that Cyrille Maret has climbed in the ultimate category.
In October 2017, he had already tried it during the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam (with a victory), two weeks before the World All Categories Championships, where he was eliminated in the second round.
The risk was therefore greater in terms of category.
And the panache even more beautiful, especially after its previous misfortunes.
LĂ©a Fontaine in silver too
On October 14, 2020, the member of Blanc-Mesnil suffered a serious scooter accident while going to training at Insep. His posterior hip dislocation then severely hampered his recovery. "I will come back stronger, and I will stop my career on a good competition", he had then assured in our pages. This summer, Maret had stayed at home, the staff of the France team having preferred Alexandre Iddir to him. The rest still belongs to him.
A few minutes earlier, the disappointment was read on the face of LĂ©a Fontaine, in the final over 78 kg.
Despite a much larger size (and less ease to move) to her opponent, the Israeli Raz Herschko, the Frenchwoman lost after having accumulated the three eliminatory penalties.
In the same category, Coralie Hayme and Julia Tolofua won bronze.