Team, Mixed

France had won the gold medal in this event on Japanese home soil at Tokyo 2020, the only previous time the event was on the Olympic Programme. It was considered a big upset, as Japan had won the World Championships six times, or every time it had been contested, in 2017-19 and 2021-23. France had won five silver medals at the Worlds, in 2018-19 and 2021-23, but France had the ultimate weapon in Teddy Riner, the redoubtable French heavyweight judoka.

As expected, France and Japan made it to the gold medal match, with France defeating Italy 4-1 and Japan besting Germany 4-0 in the semi-finals. The result was the same as in 2020, with France taking gold and Japan silver. Japan got off to an early 3-1 lead in bouts in the final, Riner beating Tatsuru Saito in extra time at 7:04, by ippon using uchi-mata, but France won the next two bouts, with Joan-Benjamin Gaba defeating Hifumi Abe by ippon at 8:52 in extra time, an epic fight, and then Clarisse Agbegnenou winning by waza-ari over Miku Takaichi. At 3-3, the deciding category was determined by an electronic draw. The men’s >90 kg category was drawn, leading to a Riner-Saito rematch for the win. Riner finally triumphed by ippon over Saito, once again in extra time at 6:26, using o-uchi-gari. The Grand Palais Éphémère was on fire!

Germany and Italy did not win medals, as Brazil defeated Italy and Korea took down Germany in the bronze medal matches. Both matches were very close, ending with 4-3 scores, Rafaela Silva and An Ba-Ul winning the deciding contests, respectively, for Brazil and Korea.

Riner won his seventh Olympic medal and fifth gold medal, both all-time Olympic records for judo. Next in the all-time list medalists are Ryoko Tamura-Tani, Clarisse Agbegnenou, and Takanori Nagase with five Olympic medals. Riner’s five golds were also a French record for the Summer Olympics, trailing only biathlete Martin Fourcade, who had six gold medals at the Winter Olympics.