At 38, the Olympic champion judoka with the French team, Axel Clerget, announces the end of his career.
Judoka Axel Clerget, Olympic champion with the French team at the Tokyo Olympics and double world medalist in -90 kg, announced Thursday that he was ending his career at the age of 38.
“I consider that I have done the trick, I gave everything I had to give, so I am quite proud of my journey”he said during a press briefing at Insep.
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“It was a decision that was obvious, very clearly. With age, I had less and less desire to leave, with a little boy at home, and then the desire to discover myself elsewhere. Because 19 years of the French team, 19 years of Insep, at one point you have covered the issue and then you have to move on.”
Often the victim of injuries, Clerget has had an atypical journey during his career, quickly rising among the best in the world before“explode in mid-flight”then return to the best level.
“I burned out. At the time, we didn’t dare put the word out. I paid dearly for it. It was difficult to trust me again. Because someone who explodes psychologically, we considered that he was not capable of handling this pressure afterwards”he explained. “I had to wait until I was 30 to regain the position of French number 1.”
At over 30 years old, he won his two world medals, bronze in -90 kg (2018 and 2019).
Selected for the Tokyo Games in 2021, he failed to achieve an individual podium, but then largely contributed to the team coronation of the Blues by beating the Japanese Shoichiro Muai in the final by ippon during the golden score (overtime).
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However, he failed to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
