Madeleine Malonga and Audrey Tcheuméo during their fight in the – 78 kg category, at the Grand Slam de Paris, at the Accor Arena, February 4, 2024. GONZALO FUENTES / REUTERS
On the wall where the main faces of current French judo are displayed, in the press room of the French federation (FFJDA), at the gates of Paris, the headliners Teddy Riner And Clarisse Abgénenou wear a broad smile. But at the announcement of the second salvo of those selected for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, communicated Friday February 23 by Frédérique Jossinet, vice-president of the FFJDA and president of the selection committee, two fighters undoubtedly kept the mask: Audrey Tcheuméo and Madeleine Malonga, who will still have to wait several weeks before knowing which one will compete in the Olympics in the -78 kg category.
Add to your selections
The national technical management has chosen not to choose about them. Or more precisely to give yourself time to think. He is authorized to do so since the provision provided for in the Olympic course sets the entry deadline at May 7. “ Today, we do not have all the elements, all the indicators, which allow us to decide between the two athletes”umes Frédérique Jossinet, the former judoka Olympic vice-champion in 2004, who also experienced the horrors of non-selection.
The good news, believes Bastien Puget, the deputy national technical director (DTN) in charge of high level and performance, is that “the French team is almost complete”with time ahead of her to perfect her preparation, since three new names have come to complete the weight categories which remained to be allocated among the men: Joan-Benjamin Gaba in – 73 kg, Maxime-Gaël Ngayap Hambou for the – 90 kg and Aurélien Diesse in the -100 kg category.
At the end of the first two selection phases – the first taking place at the end of November 2023 – thirteen of the fourteen holders are now known. We find among others the multi-medalists Teddy Riner (+ 100 kg) and Luka Mhkeidze (- 60 kg), and among the girls, Clarisse Abgénenou (- 63 kg), Amandine Buchard (- 52 kg), Sarah-Léonie Cysique (- 57 kg), Romane o (+ 78 kg), Marie-Eve Gahié (- 70 kg) and Shirine Boukli (- 48 kg).
“Perfect equality”
There remains therefore an unknown factor: the name of the judoka who will obtain her ticket in -78 kg. “The selection committee lasted more than five hours, observing all the competitions, all the fights, all the statistics of these two athletes from the World Championships in Tashkent [Ouzbékistan] in 2022, recognizes Christophe Mina, the manager of the French women’s team. And we arrived at a perfect equality: 40% success in tournaments, 60% of matches won for both, an identical number of matches won or lost against world or Olympic medalists! »
You have 42.57% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
2024-02-23 21:38:29
#French #judo #team #difficult #choice #Audrey #Tcheuméo #Madeleine #Malonga
