Teddy Pierre-Marie Riner (, ; born 7 April 1989) is a French
judoka
is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...
. He has won ten World Championships gold medals, the first and only judoka (male or female) to do so, and three Olympic gold medals (two individual, one team). He has also won five gold medals at the European Championships. He was a member of the Levallois Sporting Club before joining
Paris Saint-Germain in August 2017.
Personal life
Riner was born on 7 April 1989 in
Les Abymes
Les Abymes () is the most populous commune in the French overseas region and department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. It is located on the west side of the island of Grande-Terre, and is part of the largest metropolitan area of Guadelo ...
near
Pointe-à-Pitre
Pointe-à-Pitre (; gcf, label= Guadeloupean Creole, Pwentapit, , or simply , ) is the second largest (most populous) city of Guadeloupe after Les Abymes. Guadeloupe is an overseas region and department of France located in the Lesser Antilles, o ...
, in
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and th ...
, an
insular region of France
France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (french: régions, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collect ...
in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. He was raised in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
He was enrolled at a local sports club by his parents and played
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, Kick (football), kicking a Football (ball), ball to score a Goal (sport), goal. Unqualified, Football (word), the word ''football'' normally means the form of football tha ...
, tennis and basketball, but says he preferred judo "because it is an individual sport and it's me, only me."
[
He is tall and weighs .] He is nicknamed "Teddy Bear", or "Big Ted".
Judo career
Riner was a member of the Levallois Sporting Club in Levallois-Perret
Levallois-Perret () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and Île-de-France region of north-central France. It lies some from the centre of Paris in the north-western suburbs of the French capital. It is the most densely populated ...
, France and is coached by Christian Chaumont and Benoît Campargue.[ He won the World and European junior titles in 2006.][ In 2007, he won a ]gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
at the European Judo Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, on the day after his eighteenth birthday. At the 2007 World Judo Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he became the youngest ever senior world champion when he won the heavyweight (+100 kg) event, defeating the 2000 Olympic gold medallist, Kosei Inoue of Japan, in the semi-final.[
At the ]2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...
in Beijing, China, Riner competed in the men's heavyweight event.[ He received a bye into the second round of the competition before beating Anis Chedli of ]Tunisia
)
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and Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbek ...
's Yeldos Ikhsangaliyev to advance to the semi-finals.[ In the semis he was beaten by Uzbek judoka Abdullo Tangriev on the golden score, meaning Riner had to enter the ]repechage
Repechage (; french: repêchage, "fishing out, rescuing") is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well known example is the wild car ...
rounds.[ In the repechage he defeated Andreas Tölzer and João Schlittler to reach a bronze medal final against Lasha Gujejiani of ]Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to th ...
; Riner took the bronze medal by a score of one ippon, one yuko and one koka to nil.[ In December 2008 he won his second World Championship gold medal at the Open weight Championships held in ]Levallois-Perret
Levallois-Perret () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and Île-de-France region of north-central France. It lies some from the centre of Paris in the north-western suburbs of the French capital. It is the most densely populated ...
, France, by beating Alexander Mikhaylin of Russia in the final.
Riner won his third world title at the 2009 World Championships in Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
, the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Neth ...
. He won bouts against Daniel McCormick, Vladimirs Osnachs, Ivan Iliev and Martin Padar in the pool stage before beating Marius Paškevičius in the semi-finals and Oscar Bryson in the final to take the gold medal.
In 2010, he won two medals, a gold and a silver, at the World Championships in Tokyo. After winning the +100 competition Riner was defeated by Daiki Kamikawa of Japan in the final of open weight class by a 2–1 judge's decision. After the bout, Riner refused to bow or to shake Kamikawa's hand, claiming that he "was robbed".
Riner won his second European gold medal at the 2011 Championships in Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_ ...
, Turkey. He defeated Nodor Metreveli, Emil Tahirov and Zohar Asaf to win Pool A of the +100 kg competition before defeating Estonian Martin Padar in the semi-finals and Barna Bor of Hungary in the final to win the title. At the 2011 World Judo Championships in Paris Riner won the gold medal in men's +100 kg division, beating Germany's Tölzer in the final. The result meant that Riner became the first ever male Judoka to win five world titles. He won his sixth World Championship gold medal as part of the French side that won the team event.[
Riner was selected to compete for France at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England in the men's heavyweight event.][ The event took place at ]ExCeL London
ExCeL London (an abbreviation for Exhibition Centre London) is an exhibition centre, international convention centre and former hospital in the Custom House area of Newham, East London. It is situated on a site on the northern quay of the Roy ...
on 3 August. Riner won the gold medal by defeating Russia's Alexander Mikhaylin in the final.
At the 2016 Olympics, he defended his Olympics heavyweight title, defeating Hisayoshi Harasawa in the final.
In his career, Riner was only defeated nine times in elite international championships. He lost to Brayson and Tölzer in 2006, to Bianchessi and Rybak in 2007 and to Muneta and Grim Vuijsters in 2008. He lost to Abdullo Tangriev in the third round of the 2008 Summer Olympics, before obtaining the bronze medal, and on 13 September 2010 he lost the openweight title at the 2010 World Judo Championships in Tokyo to Daiki Kamikawa, his last defeat before a series of 154 victories. After almost 10 years, he lost in the third round of the Paris Grand Slam against world number 2 Kokoro Kageura.
In 2021, he won the gold medal in his event at the 2021 Judo World Masters held in Doha, Qatar.
At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
, Riner achieved a bronze medal in the over 100-kilogram class following a defeat by Russian judoka Tamerlan Bashaev. He also won the gold medal in the mixed team event.
Awards
*2016 Officier de l'ordre national du Mérite
*2011 RTL Champion of Champions – This annual sports award was inaugurated in 2008 and is awarded by RTL, a French commercial radio network. The previous winners were Alain Bernard (2008), Sébastien Loeb
Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rally, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nine times in a row. He h ...
(2009) and Christophe Lemaitre
Christophe Lemaitre (; born 11 June 1990) is a French sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres. In 2010, Lemaitre became the first white athlete to break the 10-second barrier in an officially timed 100 m event. Lemaitre has run a ...
(2010).
*2012 L'Équipe Champion of Champions (France male category)
*2013 Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riner, Teddy
1989 births
Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite
French male judoka
French people of Guadeloupean descent
Guadeloupean male judoka
Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Living people
Olympic bronze medalists for France
Olympic judoka of France
Olympic gold medalists for France
Olympic medalists in judo
World judo champions
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
European champions for France
Mediterranean Games gold medalists for France
Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games
People from Les Abymes
Black French sportspeople
Mediterranean Games medalists in judo
Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics