Romane Dicko, beaten again in the semi-finals, fails to win the world title
At the Paris Games, Romane Dicko's Olympic dream was shattered by Brazilian judoka Beatriz Souza . In Budapest on Thursday, June 19, it was the impressive South Korean Hayun Kim who blocked the 25-year-old Frenchwoman's path to the final.
Struggling in her semi-final, Romane Dicko was forced into error by the offensive judo of her opponent, who won the world title by defeating Japan's Mao Arai in the final. Without a solution and powerless, the Frenchwoman logically lost on penalties during the golden score (extra time).
Ten months after her Olympic disappointment, and despite still being the overwhelming favorite in her +78kg category, Romane has failed to convert this status into world gold. Watched by Teddy Riner, present in the audience, she consoles herself, as in Paris, with a bronze medal, snatched in a hard-fought victory over Estonian Emma-Melis Aktas.
Impressive in her first bouts, Romane Dicko found herself doubting herself against an opponent in great form. After her first Olympic bronze medal in 2021, the Frenchwoman became world champion for the first time—and in a magnificent manner—a year later. This year, the judoka failed to take her revenge.
The vanished Olympic coronation, a “trauma”Meeting her at the end of May at the headquarters of the French Judo Federation, Romane Dicko had, of course, anticipated another scenario. "I've only won the World Championships once. I want to make my mark again ," she told Le Monde . "Once again, after disappointing Games for me, I'm keen to go for this title."
At the Arena Champs-de-Mars during the Olympics, her defeat just outside the final had devastated her. In four fights up until then, Souza had never beaten her… Dicko, the terror of the mats, was on an impressive run of eight competition wins since August 2023. But it only took one defeat, to which was now added this Thursday's, for everything to collapse.
What happened on August 2, 2024? "I have no answers. I may never have any ," Dicko confessed, referring to the Games. "Physically and mentally, I was ready, and yet, it didn't work out." Perhaps she will be able to find answers after this latest setback.
Because the pain of an Olympic victory – at home – gone had been real, a "trauma," according to her. Before embarking on a third Olympics, she needed to take a few months to recover and take in the blow. His start to the season was promising, with two wins in his two return competitions.
A first at the Grand Slam in Tbilisi (Georgia), followed by a fifth European title (in five participations ) at the end of April in Montenegro. "It was important to come back in 2025 with medals and titles," she reacted, two weeks before the World Championships.
In the Balkans, in addition to showing off her sewing skills by urgently mending her teammate Joan-Benjamin Gaba's kimono, she joined, at just 25 years old, the cohort of five-time French continental judo champions. But for Romane Dicko, records come after victories: "I don't fight for that. I only think about winning, winning everything." A victory that slipped through her fingers for the second consecutive time in Hungary.
This string of disappointments shouldn't distract her from her dream of an Olympic gold medal. Without turning into an obsession, a term she rejects. "I wouldn't say it's an obsession, which tends towards the negative. It's more of a goal. I want to do everything to get it. It's extremely positive," she explained before the World Championships.
Despite the defeat, Romane Dicko is in the prime of life and will reach her full sporting maturity in Los Angeles in 2028. She is convinced: "I still have time. I still have the energy and the mental strength for this Olympic gold. I will have it, I will have it!"
Before the final event, the mixed team competition, scheduled for Friday, the French team has only four individual medals and only one world champion, Joan-Benjamin Gaba, in the -73 kg category.
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