Buchard on rugby: “I have everything to prove.”

Buchard grew up both on the tatami and the rugby pitch, but as she reached cadet level, the elite competition eventually demanded a choice. Judo won and quickly became the foundation of a remarkably successful career.

Buchard made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, where she claimed silver in the -52kg category after a narrow defeat to Japanese rival Uta Abe in the final. She also secured gold in the mixed team event, delivering France its first title in the discipline’s Olympic debut, and defended that title at Paris 2024, while also securing an individual bronze medal. 

Her resume also boasts four world championship bronze medals and two European championship titles, in 2021 and 2023.

That consistency has also carried its own burden, expectations, pressure, and weight of being among the favourites. Competing on home soil at Paris 2024 only intensified it all.

“Before the Olympic Games in Paris, my mind was not in a good place because I had a lot of pressure, a lot of stress,” she told Olympics.com. “These Olympics were very hard. People expected me to win everything. Of course, I wanted it too, but the pressure was constant.”

Seeking balance, Buchard found herself drawn back to a familiar place from her childhood.

“To be successful, I needed distance from judo. I started rugby again to settle my mind, and it was the best decision. I feel so good; new environment, new people, new challenge. I love it.”

“[In rugby] I’m starting from zero. I have no status, and that doesn’t put pressure on me. On the contrary, I have everything to prove.”

In September 2024, she left PSG Judo Club and later joined Stade Français, in October of that year, playing for the Pink Rockets rugby team, a move designed to support her dual-sport ambitions through the Olympic cycle.

The crossover, she explains, is not only compatible but actually quite mutually beneficial.

“As we saw in Grand Slam Tbilisi [2025] and in Dushanbe, I won with some techniques that I never did in competition, and this is because when I’m playing rugby, I do other movements. I have better reflexes. I’m feeling better in my body. I feel stronger physically.”

“I can’t imagine judo without rugby, nor rugby without judo.”