Judo | Arthur Margelidon’s Return Home

“I didn’t come for fifth place, I was aiming for gold. I didn’t succeed. […] I made a mistake in the bronze and I felt really stupid.”

These are the words of Arthur Margelidon. Spoken on Radio-Canada on July 26, 2021, a few minutes after his defeat at the Tokyo Olympics in the bronze medal match for the under 73 kg fighters. The judoka’s frustration and disappointment, his eyes moist and his face crestfallen, were palpable.

Especially since five years earlier he had secured his place at the Rio Olympics, but a broken wrist suffered just before heading to Brazil had prevented him from enjoying his most precious dream.

The 30-year-old athlete therefore has a love-hate relationship with the five Olympic rings. “There was more bad than good with the Games,” Margelidon says in the cafeteria of the national team’s training center. All the disappointments I had, it can only help me perform in the best possible way in Paris.”

With his second Games in view, he will at least be able to benefit from one major advantage that few international athletes can boast of during the most anticipated competition in the world: the advantage of playing at home.

Homeland

Margelidon was born on October 12, 1993 in Paris. When he was 1 year old, his family left their roots in the French capital to settle in Montreal.

Although he has no memories of his time there, his ties to his hometown are strong. His grandparents, uncles and aunts are still there. At elementary school, on the Plateau Mont-Royal, most of his friends had the same origins as him. “There is still a small sense of belonging,” he says.

It’s hard for him, however, to fully identify with France. It’s quite the opposite for his parents. “It will be something cool for them to go back and experience that in the city where they lived.”

It will also be an opportunity for his parents to reconnect with the pleasures that the City of Lights has to offer. “My mother will definitely take advantage of it to go and do her little errands, where she always goes,” he jokes. “To return a little to her old life. She loves going to Paris.”

His mother will be able to bring back in her suitcase some French delicacies and relics of her former life as souvenirs. Margelidon, for his part, is saving a place in his for an object that, unlike the tasty drinks offered on Parisian terraces, is priceless. “It would be great to be able to say that I got my medal in the city where I was born.”

All or nothing

Margelidon will, however, arrive in Paris with the bitter taste left by the last World Championships. His elimination in the second round of the tournament played in Abu Dhabi will have put a drastic brake on his preparation. He explains his poor performance by a neck injury, from which he should recover once he reaches the Olympic Games.

However, in his opinion, he has never been “so consistent.”

The struggle endured over the past eight years will have finally served its purpose, he believes. “The little something that I was missing, I think that in the last few years, I went looking for it.”

He confidently recalls that he has already taken the measure of the eight judokas placed ahead of him in the world ranking in his weight category. “I know I am capable.”

Margelidon has achieved two podium finishes in 2024. In February, he took third place at the Baku Grand Slam. Then, in April, he won gold at the Pan American-Oceanian World Championships.

Without necessarily having swept the board, he sets the bar high when he talks about his hopes for the Games. “I’m not going to Paris just to participate.” But while he doesn’t see any result as an end in itself or as defining the athlete he is, he refuses to think about what comes after Paris. As Olympic athletes turn 30, this kind of thinking usually becomes a must. But not for someone whose journey is not yet complete.

“A lot of people ask me if I’m going to stop after Paris. And I always answer that I’m going to die in Paris. I refuse to look further than Paris. My goal is Paris. I’m going to give it my all and not put extra pressure on myself by telling myself that these are my last.”

He illustrates his point with the following allegory: “It’s as if I were locked in a room, which is Paris, that there was only one door at the end of the room and that I was the one who decided when I was going to open it.”

It remains to be seen what kind of story he will be able to tell when he leaves this mysterious room to those who will be there to welcome him. Clearly, he is fueled by the ambition of not having to repeat what he said in 2021. This time, he probably hopes to be able to smile over a microphone to explain how a judoka who had experienced two failures was able to turn things around and finally realize his dream in front of his family.