Teddy Pierre-Marie Riner (, ; born 7 April 1989) is a French heavyweight judoka. An eleven-time world champion in the heavyweight (+100 kg) division, two-time openweight world champion and one-time world champion with the French men's team, he is the first and only judoka in history to win twelve gold medals at the

World Judo Championships The World Judo Championships are the highest level of international judo competition, next to the quadrennial judo events at the Summer Olympic Games. The world championships are held by the International Judo Federation annually, except the c ...

. Having won the gold medal in the Men's +100 kg event at the Summer Olympics three times (

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, and

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

) and, as a member of the French team, in the mixed team event twice (

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

). Additionally, he is a two-time Olympic bronze medalist (

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

), a five-time European champion, a four-time World Masters gold medalist and eleven-time Grand Slam winner in his weight category. Riner went undefeated between October 2010 and February 2020 before his winning streak was finally ended by Japanese judoka Kokoro Kageura in the third round of the 2020 Grand Slam Paris, marking Riner's first defeat in nearly a decade after 154 consecutive victories.

Personal life

Riner was born on 7 April 1989 in Les Abymes near

Pointe-à-Pitre Pointe-à-Pitre (; , , or simply , ) is the second most populous commune of Guadeloupe (after Les Abymes). Guadeloupe is an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in the Lesser Antilles, of which it is a ''Subprefectu ...

, in

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

, an insular

region of France France is Administrative divisions of France, divided into eighteen administrative regions (, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are Overseas departments and regions of France, ove ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. He was raised in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He was enrolled at a local sports club by his parents and played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, tennis, and basketball, but says he preferred judo "because it is an individual sport and it's me, only me." He is tall and weighs . He is nicknamed "Teddy Bear", or "Big Ted". With his partner, Luthna Plocus, Riner has a son born in 2014 and a daughter born in 2018.

Judo career

Riner was a member of the Levallois Sporting Club in

Levallois-Perret Levallois-Perret () is a Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department and Île-de-France Regions of France, region of north-central France. It lies on the right bank of the Seine, some from the Kilometre z ...

before joining Paris Saint-Germain in August 2017. He is coached by Christian Chaumont and Benoît Campargue. He won the World and European junior titles in 2006. In 2007, he won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the

European Judo Championships The European Judo Championships is the Judo European Championship organized by the European Judo Union. The 2015 European Judo Championships, 2015 and 2019 European Judo Championships, 2019 editions were held during the respective European Games. ...

in Belgrade, Serbia, on the day after his eighteenth birthday. At the 2007 World Judo Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he became the youngest ever senior world champion when he won the heavyweight (+100 kg) event, defeating the 2000 Olympic gold medallist, Kosei Inoue of Japan, in the semi-final. At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

in Beijing, China, Riner competed in the men's heavyweight event. He received a bye into the second round of the competition before beating Anis Chedli of

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

's Yeldos Ikhsangaliyev to advance to the semi-finals. In the semis he was beaten by Uzbek judoka Abdullo Tangriev on the golden score, meaning Riner had to enter the repechage rounds. In the repechage he defeated Andreas Tölzer and João Schlittler to reach a bronze medal final against Lasha Gujejiani of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

; Riner took the bronze medal by a score of one

ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ''ippon-wazari'' contest, usually kendo, judo, karate or jujitsu. In judo In judo, an ''ippon'' may be scored for a throw, a pin, a choke or a jointlock. For throws, the ...

, one yuko and one koka to nil. In December 2008 he won his second World Championship gold medal at the Open weight Championships held in

, France, by beating Alexander Mikhaylin of Russia in the final. Riner won his third world title at the 2009 World Championships in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He won bouts against Daniel McCormick, Vladimirs Osnachs, Ivan Iliev and Martin Padar in the pool stage before beating Marius Paškevičius in the semi-finals and Oscar Bryson in the final to take the gold medal. In 2010, he won two medals, a gold and a silver, at the World Championships in Tokyo. After winning the +100 competition Riner was defeated by Daiki Kamikawa of Japan in the final of open weight class by a 2–1 judge's decision. After the bout, Riner refused to bow or to shake Kamikawa's hand, claiming that he "was robbed". Riner won his second European gold medal at the 2011 Championships in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey. He defeated Nodor Metreveli, Emil Tahirov and Zohar Asaf to win Pool A of the +100 kg competition before defeating Estonian Martin Padar in the semi-finals and Barna Bor of Hungary in the final to win the title. At the 2011 World Judo Championships in Paris Riner won the gold medal in men's +100 kg division, beating Germany's Tölzer in the final. The result meant that Riner became the first ever male Judoka to win five world titles. He won his sixth World Championship gold medal as part of the French side that won the team event. Riner was selected to compete for France at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England in the men's heavyweight event. The event took place at ExCeL London on 3 August. Riner won the gold medal by defeating Russia's Alexander Mikhaylin in the final. At the 2016 Olympics, he defended his Olympics heavyweight title, defeating Hisayoshi Harasawa in the final. In his career, Riner was only defeated nine times in elite international championships. He lost to Brayson and Tölzer in 2006, to Bianchessi and Rybak in 2007 and to Muneta and Grim Vuijsters in 2008. He lost to Abdullo Tangriev in the third round of the 2008 Summer Olympics, before obtaining the bronze medal, and on 13 September 2010 he lost the openweight title at the 2010 World Judo Championships in Tokyo to Daiki Kamikawa, his last defeat before a series of 154 victories. After almost 10 years, he lost in the third round of the Paris Grand Slam against World No. 2 Kokoro Kageura. In 2021, he won the gold medal in his event at the 2021 Judo World Masters held in Doha, Qatar. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Riner achieved a bronze medal in the over 100-kilogram class following a defeat by Russian judoka Tamerlan Bashaev. He also won the gold medal in the mixed team event. He also competed in the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, where he, along with Marie-José Pérec, was one of the two individuals to light the Olympic cauldron in the Tuileries Garden. He won the gold medal in the over 100-kilogram class, defeating the world champion Kim Min-jong from South Korea. With that, he equaled the record of Japan's Tadahiro Nomura, becoming one of the only judokas to have won three individual Olympic golds in judo. The following day in the mixed team event, France faced Japan in the gold medal match for the second straight Olympics. Sanshiro Murao and Rika Takayama gave Japan an early 2–0 lead before Riner beat Tatsuru Saito. Natsumi Tsunoda subsequently put Japan on the brink of the gold medal, but Joan-Benjamin Gaba's shock win over Hifumi Abe and Clarisse Agbegnenou's win over Miku Takaichi leveled the score at 3–3 and forced a golden score tiebreaker. The 90+ kg men were randomly chosen, and Riner and Saito fought for 6 minutes and 26 seconds and both received shido twice before Riner successfully executed an ōuchi gari to achieve the gold medal-winning ippon. It marked Riner's fifth gold Olympic gold medal and France successfully defending their mixed team gold medal from Tokyo.

Awards and honours

* 2016: Officier de l'ordre national du Mérite * 2011: RTL Champion of Champions – This annual sports award was inaugurated in 2008 and is awarded by RTL, a French commercial radio network. The previous winners were

Alain Bernard Alain Bernard (; born 1 May 1983) is a former French swimmer from Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône. Bernard won a total of four medals (two golds, one silver, and one bronze) at two Olympic Games (2008 and 2012). He also won numerous medals at the W ...

(2008), Sébastien Loeb (2009) and Christophe Lemaitre (2010). * 2012: ''L'Équipe'' Champion of Champions (France male category) * 2013: (Knight) of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

* 2024: Along with Marie-José Pérec, one of the two final torchbearers of the Olympic torch relay who lit the Olympic cauldron in the Tuileries Garden at the opening ceremony of the

in Paris

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riner, Teddy 1989 births Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite French male judoka French people of Guadeloupean descent Guadeloupean male judoka Judoka at the 2008 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2012 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Living people Olympic bronze medalists for France Olympic judoka for France Olympic gold medalists for France Olympic medalists in judo World judo champions Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics European champions for France Mediterranean Games gold medalists for France Competitors at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Sportspeople from Les Abymes Black French sportspeople Mediterranean Games medalists in judo Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Knights of the Legion of Honour Officers of the Legion of Honour Judoka from Paris Judoka at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic cauldron lighters 21st-century French sportsmen