Fall, get back up, try again—all elite athletes know the drill. Especially judokas, who must literally learn to fall before they can win. Cédric Revol first set foot on a tatami mat at age 4. And for a youngster from a valley deep in the French Alps, entering a dojo was not all that obvious. “I was on the small side, and rather self-conscious about it. Judo helped me turn my body into a strength,” says the French champion in this sport’s under-60kg category, who fell head over heels for judo in a region better known for mountains than black belts. Another major influence was his teacher—sensei in Japanese—Nicolas Chansseaume, a true mentor and co-founder of the Alliance Grésivaudan Judo club. Under Chansseaume’s empathetic guidance, the youngster from the French Alps rose up through the ranks.

As a kid, he won nearly every competition, losing a single fight in two years. And once he advanced to Cadet level, he placed 3^rd in the French championships, winning a place at the Pôle France training centre in Marseilles. It was an honour, but one that worried his parents, who ranked scholastic performance higher. “They weren’t all that keen on me having a career in sport,” muses Cédric, aware that they viewed traditional school as a safer bet. Fortunately young Cédric was a good student, and to reassure his mom and dad, he signed a contract promising them he’d get good grades and regular phone calls home. It won them over. And with his family now on board, Cédric racked up success after success in Marseilles, wining at sports and while pursuing his secondary school baccalaureate with a science option.

His next stop was the French Junior team, where he finished a promising 7^th in his category at the European Championships, and a place at INSEP, the prestigious National Sports Institute west of Paris. Just a few weeks before starting there, he watched young judo hopefuls from INSEP in action on television: “In 2012 I saw Teddy Riner, Lucie Décosse, Automne Pavia and others gave it their all at the London Olympics. Meeting them in the flesh at INSEP was pretty amazing.”

No slacker, Cédric studied for a degree in physical education and sports in parallel with his athletic training. And discovered along the way just how tough it was to face judo’s top national contenders on the tatamis: “Put bluntly, you’re catapulted from a structure where you’re the very best to another where you’re the worst,” he now says. Fortunately, the youngster from the French Alps met Cyrille Maret, a former SNCF Athlete 7 years his senior, who helped him find his feet. “Cyrille took me under his wing and helped me fit in, especially during training camps,” says Cédric, who followed Maret to the nearby Athletic Club Boulogne-Billancourt, then on to the Etoile Sportive club in Blanc-Mesnil north of Paris, where he’s been licensed since 2017.

Surrounded by top talent in his category, Cédric set his mind on taking the place of the top contender in the under-60kg class. That perseverance paid off in 2015 when he was runner-up in the French Senior Championship, a feat that signaled his arrival in the big leagues: the World Judo Tour and its international Grand Slams. Result: a medal in his very first WJT tournament in 2016, a place on the French Seniors team in 2017, and the honorary title of #1 in France in his category. Over the same period, he started work on a degree in procurement management at Grenoble Business School, studying remotely.

A serious knee ligament injury in summer 2018 sidelined Cédric for months on end. It was tough. “I slipped so low in the rankings and struggled so hard to rebound that six months out from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics INSEP wanted to demote me to it B group in judo,” he recalls. After a critical and inspirational trip to Japan in early 2020, he made a life-changing decision: he would reinvent his game and create his own training structure.

“I realized I was red-hot on offense, but poor on defense,” says Cédric. After taking a long hard look at his shortcomings, he focused on deconstructing his approach and mastering kumikata—the art of gripping his opponent’s judogi. With the end of pandemic lockdowns, this intense behind-the-scenes analysis underpinned each training session. And paid off starting in 2021, with his first French Championship title—a victory combined with the satisfaction of taking charge of his approach to fighting. Cédric’s return to top spot in France in his category was followed by a bronze at the European Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria—his first in continent-wide competition.

Buoyed by the medal and eager to secure a future beyond sports, Cédric applied to the SNCF Athletes Programme, drawn by the opportunity to work for “a business with values worth fighting for, starting with care for the planet.” That particular commitment resonated with Cédric, whose childhood in the French Alps had made him only too aware of the toll taken by climate change. He arrived at SNCF in March 2023 and was assigned to human resources as project head focusing on quality of life at the workplace—an excellent fit that combined his degree with his experience at the top echelons of elite sport.

Both the Programme and the support of his co-workers at SNCF HQ north of Paris also helped him through a bittersweet end to 2023. On the one hand, he celebrated his first Grand Slam —in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. On the other, he failed to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics, losing out to a fellow judoka in his category. “It’s really tough to be passed over,” says Cédric. “You feel cast adrift.” Even more so after a weak start to 2024, when he lost faith in his sport and experienced what he now calls the worst tournament of his career. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he was eliminated in the very first round by the world’s 112-ranked contender—only to bounce back in March, when, ironically he defeated the same athlete at an event in Linz, Austria.

Focued on new European and world goals, Cédric has also drawn strength from his first sensei Nicolas Chansseaume, who chose him to serve as sempai or mentor for Chansseaume’s own 6^th dan ceremony, celebrating his red and white belt.

“Until then, Nicolas had presented my belts each time I changed levels,” smiles Cédric. “So having him choose me for that role was a nice touch.” Now reconnected with the essence of his commitment to judo—fun and performance—Cédric Revol is back on track, pursuing a journey based on falling, getting up, and heading back into the fray.