Teddy Riner, France's towering judo icon, has confirmed he's targeting a fourth individual Olympic gold at the Los Angeles 2028 Games — which would be his sixth Olympics and, he says, his last. He'll be 39 by then, and with 11 world titles and a 154-match unbeaten run between 2010 and 2020 already on his record, nobody doubts the ambition. His words this week were typically blunt: when he enters a competition, it's to win.
There's a hurdle, though. A nagging right shoulder injury has ruled him out of next month's world championships in Baku. Riner, who had the same shoulder operated on back in 2013, says the joint is 'creaking' but insists the recovery protocol is on track — with a backup plan ready if the first one fails. Qualification is its own challenge: he expects to need five or six tournaments to break into the top 10 and secure his place.
The announcement came at the Parc des Princes, where Riner has re-signed with Paris Saint-Germain's judo club through 2028 — a return to a team he first joined as a kid in 1994 and rejoined again in 2017. He helped PSG win the 2024 Judo Champions League right after reclaiming Olympic gold in Paris, where he became only the second judoka ever to win three individual Olympic titles (after bronzes in Beijing 2008 and Tokyo). Club president Djamel Bouras says the veteran's real value now lies in passing his winning mentality to the next generation.
For travellers, this is a nice thread to follow. Paris in the run-up to 2028 will be thick with Olympic anticipation, and the city's judo scene — from PSG's setup to neighbourhood dojos — is unusually accessible for a sport so tied to French identity. If Riner makes LA, he'll carry a genuine piece of Parisian sporting culture with him.
Even if you're not a judo fan, the story is a good excuse to plan around sport in France. Big competitive judo events regularly land in Paris and other French cities, and catching one is cheap compared to most major-sport tickets. And when the LA Games roll around in 2028, a potential Riner farewell bout will be one of the hottest tickets of the whole programme — worth flagging in the diary now.