The only medal won by the French junior judo team was from the Azure region.
Clémence EME secured 3rd place at the World Championships in Zagreb. She was only defeated by the world champion, the Japanese Honoka Araki.
Currently registered with the Champigny club, she is coached by two great champions, Barbara Harel and Audrey Larizza.
To reach the top, Clémence followed the entire French judo excellence pathway.
She began at the age of four at Stade Laurentin judo. She couldn’t have asked for better coaches than José Allari and Manuel Armitano. They taught her all the technical skills so essential for beautiful and effective judo.
Quickly, she joined the high-level structures at the Pôle Espoir in Nice with Gilles Nahon, at the Pôle France in Marseille with Marc Alexandre, and finally at INSEP with Séverine Vandenhende and Gilles Bonhomme.
Twice French Junior Champion, winner of the European Cup in Berlin, consistently ranked in major international tournaments, French Champion, European Champion, and World Team Vice-Champion, her young record was missing an individual medal in a major international competition. That has now been achieved. And this is just the beginning.
While the 2020 Olympic Games might not be hers, she is determined to participate in the 2024 ones.
She owes her medal to years of hard work and discipline.
“It was a good gamble. I was supposed to undergo surgery in August after dislocating my shoulder, and I was lucky to avoid the operation. The preparation for the World Championships was done in two phases; I first attended rehabilitation sessions for a month, then resumed physical exercises for another month to be ready,” explains the judoka.
