Double Olympic champion & 10x world champion Teddy Riner (FRA) is the greatest ever heavyweight and a strong candidate for greatest Judoka of all time.
At 2.04 m and 140kg, he is a physical specimen, but has developed that body due to a strict strength and conditioning routine that was partially uncovered in this article:
Inside Look Into Teddy Riner’s Work out Routine That Makes Him Unbeatable
In this year’s Olympics, Teddy Riner lost to Russian Judoka Tamerlan Bashaev in the quarterfinals. Riner managed to win a bronze medal, but the 10-time world champion heavyweight seemed okay with the result.
Team USA head coach and former Olympic bronze medalist Jimmy Pedro was recently on the Lex Fridman podcast. He was asked where he thought Riner would rank in the Judo GOAT list. For Pedro, Riner is the greatest Judo heavyweight of all time, ahead of Yamashita or Douillet.
Pedro stated:
“I think he’s a a freak of nature. Teddy, if you look at the size just how big he is, how tall he is , how physical he is of a specimen. I sat next to him on a bus and like his legs are literally the size of my waist.”
“When you sit next to him and just look at the side he’s a big man. You know so obviously to win 10 world titles in the sport of judo I mean it that’s almost an incomprehensible feat. Two-time olympic champion again, that puts him in one of the maybe 10 or 12 people that ever do that in the history of the sport so he’s definitely got to be in the running for for the best but you know technically i don’t think he’s as technical as some of the others in terms of pure finesse. He’s powerful, he’s explosive, he’s dominant, he’s strong. Teddy also grips really really well which makes him that much tougher to beat because a lot of times heavyweights especially the heavyweight division a lot of them just grab the gi and they go you know, man to man and judo to judo and take shots at each other and that’s why a lot of them end up getting beat.”
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Riner stated after the loss:
”I’m very proud to have a fourth medal. I think everybody knows the Olympic Games is difficult for everyone. I’m not disappointed. I’m very happy with the journey I went on. It has been difficult, but the Olympics is the dream of all sportsmen. When you arrive, it’s just amazing. This is the reason to work every day, every minute.”
Riner entered the Olympics unseeded because of prolonged inactivity but was to get two impressive wins to reach the quarterfinals of the games.
Against the Russian Bashaev in the quarter finals, Riner lost by waza-ari on a Sumi-otoshi throw.
For his future, the 32 year old Riner stated:
“The team competition, maybe another gold for me? And then Paris, ’24, I will prepare. And then after, I close the book.”
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