Clarisse Agbegnenou Shares a Human Message with Dakar’s Young Judoka

Clarisse Agbegnenou is in Dakar 2026 as an Athlete Role Model, bringing her experience from elite judo to young competitors at the Youth Olympic Games. For the French judoka, the most important lessons extend far beyond medals, results and training plans.

Asked by a young Senegalese athlete how a champion keeps returning year after year, Agbegnenou focused on balance. She explained that athletes need to care for both body and mind, while surrounding themselves with people who can support them. Family, friends and coaches all have a role in helping a judoka deal with the demands of a long career.

In Dakar, Agbegnenou sees echoes of her own younger self in the athletes she meets. She said she would have valued hearing these messages when she was their age, but she also feels inspired by the next generation. The exchanges, she explained, are not one-way: the young athletes have renewed her own energy too.

As a woman with African roots, Agbegnenou sees a particular meaning in meeting young competitors from across the continent. She wants girls to feel that high ambitions belong to them as well, even though access to resources and support can differ greatly from country to country.

Agbegnenou wants young athletes to see that their ambitions have a place in judo.

Her role has also meant being present when sport becomes painful. In Dakar, she spoke with a young Polish judoka who was devastated after losing in the quarter-final and repechage. Agbegnenou could not remove that disappointment, but encouraged the athlete to accept the result, reflect on what it could teach her and remain part of the wider Games experience when ready.

That conversation came from personal understanding. Agbegnenou knows that defeats can be difficult to process, especially when preparation and expectation have been high. Her message is not that losing should feel easy, but that an athlete can still take understanding, values and perspective from a hard day.

Motherhood has also changed the way Agbegnenou approaches her own sporting life. After Tokyo 2020, she had considered stopping, but becoming a mother gave her new reasons to continue. With two children, she now has less time to train, making purposeful sessions, recovery and organisation even more important.

She has also called for better-informed support for women in sport, including support around pregnancy, the postnatal period, endometriosis, menopause and illness. In her view, athletes need the right understanding to continue their careers with confidence and to avoid being pushed away from sport during adolescence or parenthood.

Agbegnenou remains honest about the gap between public expectations and an athlete’s reality. Following her defeat at the Baku World Championships, she acknowledged the sporting disappointment while recognising the wider challenge of returning to that level while raising two children and breastfeeding. Her point was simple: a champion can be determined, successful and still human.

Dakar has given her time to observe, listen and reset before her next training cycle. Inspired by the young judoka around her, Agbegnenou says she remains driven by her competitive ambitions towards Los Angeles 2028.

Source: IJF.org

Image source: IJF / International Judo Federation