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France win judo gold, Riner makes history

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Teddy Riner is the first man to win five Olympic judo medals after France claimed mixed team gold.
Camera IconTeddy Riner is the first man to win five Olympic judo medals after France claimed mixed team gold. Credit: EPA

Teddy Riner has become the first man to win five medals in Olympic judo after helping France claim gold in the sport's inaugural mixed team event at the Tokyo Games.

France beat hosts Japan 4-1 in the final, with Clarisse Agbegnenou earning a second gold at the Games, and Axel Clerget, Guillaume Chaine, Sarah Leonie Cysique and Romane Diko the other team members along with Riner.

Bronze medals went to Israel and Germany.

Riner, 32, also won +100kg bronze on Friday, to go with gold both in 2012 and 2016 plus a 2008 bronze.

No other man has won five medals in the sport but Japan's Ryoko Tani has achieved it on the women's side with a 2-2-1 haul between 1992 and 2008.

The mixed event gold made up for Riner's shock loss in Friday's quarter-finals in the men's +100kg individual contest against Tamerlan Bashaev of the Russian Olympic Committee - only his second defeat in top competition in 11 years.

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Riner had been aiming to win the +100kg category and match the record of claiming three consecutive Olympic gold held by Japanese great Tadahiro Nomura.

The mixed event completed the Olympic judo action in the iconic Budokan arena where hosts Japan led the way with a 9-2-1 medal count from 15 events, and France a distant second on 2-3-3.

Japan's nine gold tally was a record haul in judo since it became an Olympic event for men in 1964 and for women in 1992.

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