French judoka Clarisse Agbegnenou has been a mother to a baby girl for 11 months and made a remarkable feat with her sixth victory on Wednesday in Doha, Qatare Career world title on his return to the big stage.
En route to his sixth world title in the under 63 kg category and watched by his daughter Athena, the 30-year-old athlete comfortably defeated Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard in the quarterfinals. The reigning runner-up from Quebec then lost her first hopeful match against Mexico’s Prisca Awiti Alcaraz and ended up in seventh place while aiming for the top step of the podium.
Since his gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, Agbegnenou had competed in only one international competition, February’s Tel Aviv Grand Slam, which failed to yield results.
Despite taking extra time to win two of her first three bouts, the Frenchman defeated Beauchemin-Pinard via ippon before claiming two more decisive victories in the semifinals and final.
Team Canada head coach and three-time Olympian Antoine Valois-Fortier was impressed by the performance of the six-time World Champion. “Clarisse is one of the greatest athletes in the history of our sport,” he said. She is an exceptional athlete and person. It is phenomenal what she has just achieved and she continues to amaze me.
Valois-Fortier is used to dealing with lengthy periods of inactivity due to various injuries throughout his career and feels Agbegnenou’s performance is far more commendable.
“It’s ten times more meritorious what she did. There is no comparison between the two. That wouldn’t be possible for most athletes, but I had no doubt that she could succeed if she wished.
Tokyo bronze medalist Beauchemin-Pinard had suffered her only loss against Agbegnenou. “We knew we would find Clarisse later in the picture on our way, but Catherine was focused on one fight at a time. She had the right attitude. In repechage, she dominated the Mexican for ninety percent of the fight, but missed a scene where her opponent took advantage of that to score the point.
Vice World Champion Beauchemin-Pinard took 2nd place ahead of the world in the international rankings.
a 5e Place for Gauthier-Drapeau
François Gauthier-Drapeau, only his second in the world, had a good run before losing to Korea’s Joonhwan Lee in the bronze medal match. He placed 5th in the under 81 kg category.
“François can be proud of his day,” said Valois-Fortier. He’s disappointed not to be on the podium, but in hindsight he’ll realize he’s achieved great things. Today serves as motivation for the future. He was a little lacking in aggression in the bronze medal fight, but credit has to be given to the Korean who did very well. There was some strain during the warm-up, but I immediately felt that he could go far.