By Zhifan Liu
PARIS (Reuters) – Individual champion Teddy Riner led France into the judo mixed team final at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, causing such excitement among the home crowd that officials at the venue had to ask fans to stop stamping their feet and making the stands shake.
The announcer at the Champs de Mars Arena asked spectators to stop celebrating France’s progress by stamping their feet “for security reasons”.
The temporary arena, which seats 6,900, erupted each time defending champions France advanced through the qualifiers, beating Israel in the round of 16, South Korea in the quarter-finals and Italy in the semi-finals.
Japan also advanced and two sides will face each other again in the final later on Saturday, three years after France beat Japan 4-1 in the gold-medal decider at the Tokyo Olympics.
In the mixed team event, each side is composed of three male and three female judokas divided into three categories instead of the usual six, meaning judokas can compete against opponents they would not normally fight.
In the quarter-finals, South Korea decided not to put up their heavyweight Kim Min-jong against Riner after he lost Friday’s +100kg final against the Frenchman.
Instead, Lee Joon-hwan, 83kg to Riner’s 141.5kg, was on the mat, losing to the three-times individual gold medallist by ippon after 94 seconds.
Japan struggled to beat Spain in the round of 16, winning only by golden score in the last fight after both teams had won three fights, before beating Serbia in the quarter-finals and Germany in the semi-finals.
In the bronze-medal matches, Germany will face South Korea and Italy, led by the women’s under 78kg Olympic champion Alice Bellandi, will meet Brazil.
(Reporting by Zhifan Liu, editing by Clare Fallon)
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