In an interview with L’Equipe, Clarisse Agbegnenou, now a mother of two children, announces that she will retire after the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028, at the age of 36.
It’s not a huge surprise, but it’s now official. Clarisse Agbegnenou will retire after the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. The five-time Olympic medalist confirms this Monday in the newspaper L’Equipe on the sidelines of her return to training at the INSEP, after giving birth on March 11 to a little Dakota, who joined the family, which already included little Athena, born in June 2022. “I would like to have a sixth European title, but this year it’s too tight (they start in ten days in Tbilisi, editor’s note) and a seventh world title. And win another Olympic title. “To leave like a queen, because I am already at peace,” says the 2021 individual Olympic champion and 2021 and 2024 team champion.
Agbegnenou: “I don’t want to end badly”
And even if she wins gold in the individual event in Los Angeles, Clarisse Agbegnenou will end her career, that’s for sure. “Yes, because I am already at peace. The journey has already brought me so much, I am already so proud. I can’t give more. I don’t want to end badly. I feel that the young generation has been pushing for a long time. At some point, it would be unhealthy. I have already given everything. Here, it really is the ultimate,” continues the judoka, who will celebrate her 36th birthday a few months after the end of the Olympics.
Agbegnenou remains in -63kg
The native of Rennes has already almost lost the ten kilos she gained during her pregnancy. So there is no question of her moving up to the higher weight category (-70kg), she remains in -63kg. The category that brought her glory. Clarisse Agbegnenou is expected to return to judo at the end of the month, and has already marked the date of the World Championships in October in Azerbaijan, where she dreams of winning a seventh title. She had achieved this in 2023 after the birth of her daughter, before experiencing two relatively setbacks by winning bronze at the World Championships and the Olympics in 2024. And it is indeed gold that she will aim for in Los Angeles.
