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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Angelique Chrisafis at the Arena Champ-de-Mars

Clarisse Agbégnénou’s judo bronze strikes blow for mothers in elite sport

Clarisse Agbégnénou of France celebrates with her bronze medal
Clarisse Agbégnénou was born premature in the Brittany city of Rennes, where she had major kidney surgery as a tiny baby and was in a coma. Photograph: Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

She is one of France’s best-loved women sports stars, a martial arts hero hailed for breaking taboos over motherhood in elite sport by bringing her baby to training.

So when the French judo star, Clarisse Agbégnénou, took the bronze medal in the under-63kg category on Tuesday and held aloft her baby daughter, Athéna, the adoring crowd went wild.

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