Judoka wants to become France's president: political lightweight

As a judoka, Teddy Riner has won almost every prestigious title in the last 20 years; he is a multiple Olympic champion and world champion in his heavyweight category. Now he wants to face a different challenge: On Monday, the 37-year-old announced his candidacy in the presidential elections in April 2027 in France.

The video speech quickly went viral. When scrolling through their networks, many people first thought of fake news. But Riner immediately confirmed to the media that was now attacking him that he was completely serious.

His performance was well staged. In the background there was clearly visible a bookcase with volumes that looked like an encyclopedia or legal yearbooks, next to it was the tricolor flag, and in the foreground was the elegant Riner himself in a dark blue tailored suit and white shirt.

The muscular man, who is already training for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028, is a colossus who fills the picture and can convey a feeling of impressive strength alone. Who would want to mess with him? But he doesn't actually look threatening at all with his friendly, yet solemn, serious smile.

Riner has been at the top of France's top ten most popular personalities for years. As a judo star, born in Pointe-à-Pitre on the French Antilles island of Guadeloupe, he is not one of the well-known party politicians. He is an almost unknown figure in politics and owes his popularity solely to his sporting successes. This is a huge advantage for his candidacy.

Despite his imposing stature, his 2.04 meter body length and 140 kilos of mass, Riner is (at least so far) a flyweight in politics. Nobody knows his election program. So far he has only delivered pleasant phrases: “Giving up is not an option.” Or even that he is “neither left nor right”.

If you read between these lines, this can be interpreted as a strategy against a runoff election between the right-wing extremist Marine Le Pen and the left-wing tribune Jean-Luc Mélenchon. In doing so, he could fill a real gap in the political vanity market. Of all the previously known candidates for the presidency who claim the political center, none have yet been convincing. For them, Riner is a perfect spoilsport who can steal votes from all political camps.

So Riner can't just count on goodwill. His opponents and the media will reveal that, as the owner of a luxury car rental company, he was convicted of tax evasion with his Ferraris and Rolls-Royces and was also suspected of lobbying for Morocco. He has had a residence permit there since 2024 and, according to media reports, has his private center of life and his training base there.

But President Emmanuel Macron thinks it's great that such a "champion is engaging in the election debate with his convictions, his ideas and his talent for the benefit of the country." The fact that the very unpopular president is betting on Riner could dampen the initial enthusiasm of many judoka fans. Rudolf Balmer, Paris