Montpellier, France – Léa Fontaine stood on the podium with a silver medal around her neck, her eyes glistening not just from the weight of the achievement but from the quiet realization that she had come within a single grip of gold. Across the tatami, Romane Dicko embraced her teammate, bronze medal already draped over her shoulders, a smile breaking through the fatigue of two hard-fought days at the 2024 European Judo Championships.
The French judo squad delivered a powerful statement on home soil in Montpellier, securing two medals in the women’s heavyweight division as Fontaine claimed silver in the -78kg category and Dicko earned bronze in the +78kg class. Their performances underscored France’s continued dominance in European judo while highlighting the razor-thin margins that define elite competition.
Fontaine’s journey to the final began with a commanding ippon victory over Germany’s Anna-Maria Wagner in the quarterfinals, a win that signaled her intent early. Wagner, a two-time world medalist and Olympic bronze medalist, had been considered a formidable obstacle, but Fontaine’s precise seoi-nage and relentless kumi-kata left little room for doubt. In the semifinals, she faced Slovenia’s Metka Lobnik, a judoka known for her defensive resilience and counter-attacks. Fontaine broke through with a well-timed uchi-mata, securing waza-ari and advancing to the final with a yuko advantage.
The final against Israel’s Inbar Lanir proved to be a tactical battle of grips and timing. Lanir, the reigning world champion and Olympic silver medalist from Tokyo 2020, entered the match as the favorite. Fontaine started strongly, establishing a dominant right-hand grip and probing for opportunities with sasae-tsurikomi-ashi. Mid-way through the contest, she appeared to have Lanir off-balance, driving forward with a harai-goshi attempt that earned a yuko. However, Lanir countered with exceptional defensive posture, nullifying Fontaine’s attack and transitioning into her own offensive sequence.
With under 30 seconds remaining, Lanir seized a momentary lapse in Fontaine’s left-hand control, executing a sharp ko-uchi-gari that scored waza-ari. Fontaine pushed forward in desperation, but Lanir maintained composure, controlling the pace until the bell. The scoreboard read waza-ari to yuko in favor of Lanir, awarding the Israeli judoka her second consecutive European title and leaving Fontaine with silver.
“I gave everything I had,” Fontaine said in the mixed zone, her voice steady despite the emotion. “Inbar is an incredible athlete — she made me work for every inch. Silver isn’t the color I came for, but I’ll seize it. This medal means I belong among the best in Europe, and that’s something I’ll carry forward.”
In the +78kg division, Romane Dicko’s path to bronze was marked by resilience. After a opening-round bye, Dicko defeated Poland’s Beata Pacut-Kloczko with a decisive osoto-gari ippon in just 1 minute and 12 seconds. Her quarterfinal match against Turkey’s Kayra Sayit, a rising star who had beaten her at the 2023 World Championships, became a test of mental fortitude. Dicko trailed by a shido early but adjusted her grip fighting, using her superior strength to control Sayit’s movements and eventually score waza-ari with a powerful tai-otoshi. She held the lead to advance.
The semifinal pitted Dicko against France’s own Audrey Tcheuméo, a two-time Olympic medalist and veteran of the national team. In what became a symbolic clash of generations, Tcheuméo’s experience showed early as she dictated the pace with precise footwork and defensive counters. Dicko struggled to find her rhythm, accumulating two shidos for passivity before Tcheuméo sealed the victory with a late o-soto-gari for waza-ari. Though disappointed, Dicko regrouped quickly for the bronze medal match.
Facing Germany’s Raffaela Igl, Dicko returned to her fundamentals: aggressive kumikata, relentless forward pressure, and explosive transitions. Igl, a European medalist in her own right, resisted early but could not withstand Dicko’s sustained assault. With 1:20 left on the clock, Dicko caught Igl attempting to circle away, snapped into a devastating harai-makikomi, and scored ippon. The arena erupted as the French crowd rose to honor their athlete.
“It wasn’t the final I wanted, but bronze is still a medal,” Dicko said, wiping sweat from her brow. “Léa and I pushed each other all week in training — seeing her in the final made me fight harder for this podium. We’re building something special here.”
The results continued France’s strong tradition at the European Championships. Over the past five editions, French judokas have won at least one medal in the women’s -78kg and +78kg categories in every tournament, a testament to the depth of talent cultivated through the national training institute at INSEP and the country’s extensive club system.
Fontaine’s silver marks her first individual senior European medal, having previously won team gold in 2022 and 2023. At 25 years old, she enters the Olympic qualification period with renewed confidence, her performance in Montpellier positioning her as a direct contender for one of France’s two quota spots in the -78kg division for Paris 2024.
Dicko, 24, now boasts three individual European medals — silver in 2021, bronze in 2022, and bronze in 2024 — solidifying her status as one of the most consistent heavyweights on the continent. Her ability to rebound from semifinal losses, as seen in both 2022 and this year, speaks to a mental toughness that has become her trademark.
Both athletes will now turn their focus to the World Judo Tour, with upcoming events in Abu Dhabi and Baku serving as critical opportunities to accumulate ranking points for Olympic qualification. The International Judo Federation’s Olympic qualification ranking closes on May 26, 2024, leaving approximately eight weeks for athletes to secure their positions.
As the crowd filtered out of the Palais des Sports de Montpellier under a late spring sky, the atmosphere remained electric. For French judo, the double podium was more than a medal count — it was a declaration. Fontaine and Dicko, representing different stages of athletic evolution, had proven that the nation’s heavyweight ranks remain among the most formidable in Europe.
The next confirmed checkpoint for both athletes is the Judo World Tour event in Baku, Azerbaijan, scheduled for May 10–12, 2024, where they will seek to build on this momentum and strengthen their Olympic cases.
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