Rio2016 Olympic Judo Preview men +100kg

Teddy Riner is most successful judoka ever on the planet. Everyone is clear in the predictions, no doubt about a third Olympic medal for Teddy Riner. The last day will be the highlight of the Olympic Games. Not in terms of judo attraction, but in terms of new stardom, as Riner is from outer space, a league on his own. This is exactly the trap we may experience at 12 August.

The French heavyweight won eight world titles, more than anyone. He is 2.05m and very athletic. He won 5 European titles and of course the 2012 Olympic title. He was double junior world champion, athlete of the year and honoured world wide. He is also the easiest judoka to predict for the Olympic title. There’s a saying that each day his loss comes closer, but no one believes that crap. Riner is a league on his own. Hisayoshi Harasawa thinks differently though as he is the only one who hasn’t lost to Big Teddy.

Harasawa started to shine in 2013 when he won bronze at the Grand Slam in Tokyo. In 2014 he continued with bronze in Tyumen and gold at the Grand Prix in Qingdao. He won in Rome in 2015 and FISU Universiade in Gwangju, Grand Slams of Tyumen, Tokyo in 2015 and Paris Grand Slam in 2015 and 2016. He was chosen over last year’s World silver medallist Ryu Shichinohe.

Iakov Khammo of the Ukraine is an outsider and a huge talent who won World Bronze in 2015 in Astana and European bronze at the 2015 European Games and bronze with the team. He was European Junior Champion 2014 and World Junior medallist. Khammo won the Grand Prix of Zagreb in 2015 and Grand Prix Dusseldorf and Grand Slam in Baku in 2016.

Roy Meyer won the Grand Prix in Zagreb in 2015 as biggest win. He was European Junior Champion in 2010 and U23 Champion in 2012. He won bronze at the Paris Grand Slam in 2015 and 2016, IJF Masters and Jeju in 2015. He took silver at the Grand Prix in Tbilisi and Grand Slam in Baku. Meyer fought many battles with Or Sasson of Israel and also at these Games both are paired in the seeding.

Sasson is winner of European Games silver in Baku +100kg. Fought U100kg for a long time and won several international world level events such as in Prague, Tbilisi, Warsaw and Tallinn. He won silver at the European Open in Sofia and Grand Slam in Paris and won gold in Tbilisi in 2016.

Romanian heavyweight Daniel Natea won the Grand Slam in Abu Dhabi in 2014. He won various World Cup level medals. He won European U23 bronze in 2013 and 2014. Natea is national champion in 2015. In 2016 he won the European Open in Prague. Natea added World Masters gold in Guadalajara in 2016.

Barna Bor of Hungary is triple European U23 Champion 2006-2008. Bor won silver at the World Championships 2011 in Tyumen. The Hungarian judoka was silver medallist at the European Championships 2011 and 2012. In 2013 Bor won bronze at the European Championships in Budapest. Seventh at London 2012. Let’s hope he won’t draw against Riner as he is 8-0 behind, but… these are the Olympics. For now he has to focus on Harasawa first, so if it’s against Riner, he wouldn’t mind this time.

Brazilian Rafael Silva is the former #1 of the world. The heavyweight won an Olympic bronze medal in 2012 in London. He won many international titles such as 2 World Championships medals in 2013 and 2014 and Grand Slam in Tyumen in 2014. He won the Pan American Open in Lima and Buenos Aires in 2016. He may be the first big opponent for Teddy Riner. Who knows, it can be spooky in Rio, but Riner where two World titles, also a fact.

Seeded athletes paired

Riner (Battulga) with Silva (Saidov)

Meyer (Kim) with Sasson (El Shehaby)

Harasawa (Okruashvili) with Bor (Jaballah)

Khammo (Breitbarth) with Natea (Tangriev)

Previous Olympic Champions

Stat:

+100kg Teddy Riner (27) is unrivaled. No one of the participants ever won two Olympic medals, nine of them won the title before, and Teddy Riner is the most likely candidate to prolong his title. He is the most successful of all with not just gold and another Olympic medal (together with Iliadis, Ortiz and Naidan), but also collected a record of 8 world titles, Iliadis comes second with three. The Olympic medallists Ortiz and Matsumoto have two.