Antoine Valois-Fortier (born 13 March 1990) is a Canadian retired judoka who won the bronze medal in the −81 kg category at the 2012 Olympics, becoming the first Canadian to win a medal in Olympic judo in twelve years and the fifth to win one in Canadian history.

Career

Valois-Fortier entered the 2012 Olympics ranked 21st in the world in his weight class. He pulled off several upset victories, including a win over Olympic gold medalist

Elnur Mammadli Elnur Mammadli ( az, Elnur Məmmədli, born 29 June 1988, Baku, Azerbaijan) is an Azerbaijani judoka. He won the gold medal during the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the 73 kg division. In the final he beat the favorite Wang Ki-Chun. Wang h ...

, to make the quarterfinals. He lost to Ivan Nifontov of Russia, but made 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 ...

and defeated

Emmanuel Lucenti Emmanuel "Emma" Lucenti (born 23 November 1984) is a judoka from Argentina. He competed at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's half-middleweight (-81 kg). At the 2008 Summer Olympics, he lost in second round to Euan Bur ...

of Argentina to enter the bronze medal match against

Travis Stevens Travis Stevens (born February 28, 1986) is an American judoka and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner who competed in the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympics. He competes in the men's half-middleweight (−81 kg) division. On August 9, 20 ...

, which he then won. Valois-Fortier's win is Canada's first Olympic medal in Judo since 2000, which was a silver won by his coach Nicolas Gill, and only the fifth won by a Canadian in Olympic history. At the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

he won his first two bouts, but then lost the third bout to the eventual gold medalist

Khasan Khalmurzaev Khasan Magometovich Khalmurzaev (russian: Хасан Магометович Халмурзаев; born 9 October 1993) is a Russian judoka. Khasan won the gold medal in the –81 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2017 World Judo C ...

and the

match to a bronze medalist

Takanori Nagase Takanori Nagase ( ja, 永瀬貴規; born 14 October 1993) is a Japanese judoka. Nagase's achievements include the Universiade in Kazan in 2013, the Grand Slam in Tokyo in 2013 and 2014, the All Japan Championships, the IJF Masters in Rabat and ...

. In June 2021, Valois-Fortier was named to Canada's 2020 Olympic team. In December 2021, Valois-Fortier announced his retirement from competitive judo. Valos-Forter will remain a part of the national team, as a coach.

Honours

In 2012 Valois-Fortier was awarded the

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...

References

External links

*
Interview with Valois-Fortier about his cross-Canada tour
(CBC Radio)
2012 Olympic −81 kg bronze medal match
Antoine Valois-Fortier vs.

(CTV Olympics on YouTube)
Alternate video
(

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

on YouTube) {{DEFAULTSORT:Valois-Fortier, Antoine 1990 births Living people Canadian male judoka Olympic judoka of Canada Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in judo Sportspeople from Quebec City Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in judo Judoka at the 2011 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Career

Honours

See also

References

External links