Five Olympic medals including three gold and two bronze, as well as 11 world titles… Teddy Riner
is the most successful judoka in all categories combined. But to reach such a level, the athlete had to show a lot of courage in addition to a huge amount of work. Indeed, if he reached this level, it is also thanks to the psychologists he consulted during his career. These allowed him to reach the level he is at today. But also staying upright during a difficult time.
Indeed, this Friday February 16, 2024 against Mouloud Achour, in Click
, Teddy Riner firstly reminded that going to see a psychologist is not pejorative. That “doesn’t mean you’re crazy if you need to go see one”. If this term is so pejorative for many today, it is because we associate this word “to ‘crazy’, we associate it with ‘problem’, we associate it with ‘negativity'”. “If the word psychologist is not good enough, we should put ‘therapist’, we should put ‘mental specialist’. We should put ‘mental coach’. It’s just to say let’s soften this word and we will see that things are better”explained the judoka.
A difficult status to assume for Teddy Riner
The best argument to support his words? His own experience. Indeed, Teddy Riner was presented very young as THE next generation of French judo during its debut at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (INSEP). And it wasn’t really accepted by his peers. “When we enter INSEP, that I am a cadet, and we announce to seniors, or people older than me, that I am the future or the next generation, it is not easy”he admitted to Mouloud Achour.
Indeed, with such a presentation, the other judokas gave him “returns inside”. “They don’t give me the time, they don’t give me a gift […] I, courageous, get up, I try not to show anything. It’s not easy for a kid who’s barely 14 to deal with all that. I’m not saying I cried in my bed, that didn’t happen to me. But I have comrades who were crying. Because the high level is hard very young”he recalled, showing great frankness.
In the end, it was his meeting with Meriem Salmi, his psychologist, who helped him to “put these things in place, to grow well”. “To accept the fact that I have potential”, he concluded to prove that going to see a psychologist can help everyone.
RF