Less than a year and a half from the event, the question is already being asked. Will US Orléans judo have to be content to follow the Paris Olympic Games from afar, in 2024, without any athlete retained in the French team?
Because the numbers 2 in their respective category, Astride Gneto (-52 kg), Priscilla, her older sister (-57 kg), and Margaux Pinot (-70 kg) did not convince Frédérique Jossinet and the members of the selection committee : none will compete in the individual events of the world championships, in May in Qatar. Reservists (like Astride), Priscilla Gneto and Margaux Pinot, on the other hand, have been integrated into the mixed team which will take to the mats on the last day. Little consolation.
“It was at the end of December that everything happened”
However, Priscilla Gneto won the prestigious Paris Tournament in early February 2023, and Margaux Pinot has just ended a year of failures and frustration by winning, in Tel Aviv, the fourth Grand Slam tournament of her career. “But it was at the Masters, at the end of December (2022), that everything was decided,” points out Anthony Rodriguez, the coach of the USO high-level group.
Games ? Astrid Gneto thinks about it every day
“The Masters, with the twenty or twenty-five strongest girls in their category, is the equivalent of a world championship. A result has more impact there than in Paris or Israel…”
The former world medalist, however, refuses to believe that everything is already settled. “The girls have just shown that they were capable of winning very big tournaments, beating the world numbers 1 or 2, notes Anthony Rodriguez. There is still a year to repeat performances like these.”
Since they are leaving for Japan on Sunday February 26 for a two-week internship, the three Orleans women will not be able to fight in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, at the beginning of March. “But three weeks later, there is another Grand Slam, in Tbilisi, Georgia.” Anthony Rodriguez would like all of them to fight there. “It won’t change anything for the world championships, but you have to keep winning, and move up the world rankings.”
A decline to put into perspective
Astride Gneto dropped to ninth place (when Amandine Buchard is eighth); Priscilla holds on, tenth (Sarah-Léonie Cysique ahead of her by one place); and Margaux Pinot gained three ranks, fourteenth now, while Marie-Ève Gahié is far ahead, fifth… “The road is still long from here to Paris, measures Anthony Rodriguez. The French team is taking shape, with our three girls in the background, sure, but they’re part of the design.”
Sporting and financial (“the club no longer has the means to recruit number 1…”, concedes its coach), the decline of the USO, which has long reigned over French judo, is however to be put into perspective.
A new European Cup, removed in November (the previous one dated back to 2008), came as a reminder. As for Audrey Tcheuméo (-78 kg) and Julia Tolofua (+78 kg), selected for the world championships, they were from Orleans during the previous Olympiad…
Pascal Bourgeais
