Partnership with the Paris Judo Club

The agreement would make the Lagardère group an official partner of Paris Judo and its teams

Xavier Dung, President of Paris Judo, Thierry Rey, Honorary President of Paris Judo, Arnaud Molinié, Chief of Staff of Lagardère SCA and Xavier Moreau, Managing Director of Team Lagardère, have entered into discussions with a view to signing a partnership agreement for the coming years.

The Lagardère group will form a partnership with the club, which holds three Olympic championship titles and six world championship titles, and was also the last French club to win the European Club Champion’s Cup (1996). The agreement would make the Lagardère group an official partner of Paris Judo and its teams.

Paris Judo (formerly PSG Judo) was created in 1992 at the initiative of Thierry Rey (world champion and champion at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow) and Canal+, for the purpose of developing a top-quality athletic program in Paris. The club can boast some of the biggest names in French judo, including David Douillet, Djamel Bouras, Cécile Nowak and Frederic Demonfaucont.

Since 2002, with the help of the City of Paris and thanks to forthcoming support from the Lagardère group, Paris Judo has been rebuilding in preparation for upcoming major Olympic and world championship competitions.

Serge Dyot, world vice-champion and coach of Paris Judo with the assistance of Thierry Dibert, embodies the passion, commitment and experience of this athlete project. He is training a promising young team spearheaded by 17-year-old Teddy Riner (2.02 m, 125 kg), the 2005 and 2006 French junior champion.

This partnership, whose objective is to develop Olympic and world championship hopefuls and ensure the ongoing viability of a major judo club in Paris, will focus on the following areas of collaboration:

– Paris Judo will benefit from the advice, support and expertise of Team Lagardère’s scientific platform. The collaboration with the Research Centre will involve an assessment and analysis of the physical and muscular capabilities of the Club’s athletes, and will include the planning of training programs designed to optimize their performance.

– The Lagardère group will provide financial support for Paris Judo.

– The Lagardère group will become an Official Partner of Paris Judo and, as such, will benefit from the use of the collective image rights of the club’s teams while the Lagardère name will appear on the team’s uniforms.

After a sequence of commitments to tennis, table tennis and track athletics, the Lagardère group’s new judo partnership will reinforce the multi-sport dimension of its commitment to the preparation of Parisian and French athletes for the next Olympic games.