Arriving at the Games with seeded status
For them, the Olympic horizon is clear: also titled at Bercy, Dicko in the + 78 kg and Mkheidze in the – 60 kg started their Olympic year perfectly with a crowd in front of the French fans.
The two medalists from the Tokyo Games in 2021, in bronze, are aiming for new success in Baku to build up their confidence. The objective is also to collect points in the Olympic ranking, to arrive at the Olympics in the top seed position and obtain a more favorable draw.
Among the twelve French representatives in Baku (nine men, three women), we will also find the Olympic vice-champion Sarah-Léonie Cysique (- 57kg) and the 2019 world champion and double reigning European champion Marie-Ève Gahié ( – 70kg).
Four tickets still in play
Respectively in bronze and silver in Paris, Cysique and Gahié appear like Riner and Agbégnénou, Dicko or Mkheidze among the ten judokas already selected for the Olympics. Four places still remain to be taken: one for women (-78 kg), three for men (-73 kg, -90 kg and -100 kg).
The Federation, which wants to complete its delegation very quickly to put its athletes in the best conditions, must announce after Baku a second and perhaps final tour of selected players.
Uncertainty in men
In the -78 kg category, the advantage is clearly in favor of Madeleine Malonga. The 30-year-old reigning Olympic vice-champion beat her rival Audrey Tcheuméo, 33, a double Olympic medalist in 2012 and 2016 in Paris. But both are absent in Baku.
Uncertainty is greater among men. In -73 kg, Joan-Benjamin Gaba has a card to play against Benjamin Axus, absent. Orlando Cazorla will also be there in Baku but he is starting from further away.
In – 90 kg, Axel Clerget, 36 years old, Olympic mixed team champion in Tokyo, and Alexis Mathieu, 24 years old, will be in Azerbaijan. A trip that looks like a last chance for the two judokas, who fell behind against Maxime-Gaël Ngayap Hambou, 22, in bronze in Paris.
2024-02-16 07:55:32
#Judo #Blues #search #confidence #Olympism
