Riner has not competed in his home IJF World Tour event since 2013 but will open a season, which he hopes ends with him winning a third consecutive Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020, at the AccorHotels Arena this weekend.

The presence of one of France's biggest sports icons has helped boost ticket sales and the event is close to selling out the 14,000 capacity Arena both tomorrow and Sunday (February 9) - the day Riner competes in the over-100 kilograms category. 

Riner is still in the early stages of a comeback having had a period off following his eighth gold medal at the IJF World Championships and is currently ranked a lowly 33rd in the IJF rankings.

Nobody will be fooled by that position, however, as Riner looks to extend his 152-fight unbeaten run dating back to September 2010.

That run includes victories in the IJF Grand Prix in Montreal and IJF Grand Slam in Brasilia last year as he took his first steps on the path to Tokyo 2020.

Having won Olympic gold medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016, the 30-year-old will aiming for a third title at Tokyo 2020 and matching the record of Japan's Tadahiro Nomura.

He is so far the only competitor in the 56-year-old history of Olympic judo to have claimed three consecutive Olympic gold medals - winning the 60kg title at Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.

If Riner wins at Tokyo 2020, then he can cement his legend by winning a fourth consecutive Olympic title at Paris 2024 in the same Arena he will compete in on Sunday. 

Another big draw for the French crowd will be the presence of Clarisse Agbegnenou, the four-time world champion in the under-60kg category.

A total of of 688 judoka - 411 men and 277 women - from 117 countries are set to compete in one of the sport's most prestigious events.

Notable by their absence will be any competitors from China, who have been unable to travel here because of the coronavirus crisis.

Italy's Fabio Basile, the Olympic gold medallist in the under-66kg section, heads the international entries along with Canada's Christa Deguchi, double world champion in the women's under-57kg.

Another double world champion, Ukraine's 19-year-old Daria Bilodid, winner of the under-48kg title at Baku in 2018 and Tokyo last year, is also sure to attract plenty of attention.

"It’s an Olympic year and an important one," Jean-Luc Rougé, French Judo Federation President and IJF general secretary, said before the draw for this year's event took place.

"We have 14,000 seats and tomorrow we have just 500 tickets left and on Sunday there are only 27 so I urge those interested to buy their tickets quickly."

Watch all the action on Judo TV.