Olympics Medallist Teddy Riner Enters French Presidential Race
French judo world champion Teddy Riner has announced his intention to run as a candidate in France‘s presidential elections in 2027 to replace incumbent President Emmanuel Macron.
Heavyweight Judoka Riner is a nine-time world champion in the heavyweight category and won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics in 2012, 2016 and 2024. He is also the first and only judoka to win 12 medals in the World Judo Championships.
Outside of sport, Riner has forged a career as celebrity presenter, with credits including hosting Netflix show Love is Blind: France (Pour le Meilleur et à l’Aveugle) with his partner Luthna Plocus.
He also has a number of interests in audiovisual production, real estate, sports apparel and commercial branding under his TR Leader Group holding company.
Riner announced his decision to run in the upcoming presidential elections in an exclusive interview in the ‘Le Parisien’ newspaper on Monday.
The elections are set to take place on 18 April 2027, with a second round on 2 May if no candidate secures a majority vote.
With just over five months to go, current voting intentions are extremely polarized with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélechon in the lead.
A Toluna Harris Interactive poll for RTL and M6 published on Monday, showed Le Pen in the lead with between 34% to 36% share of the vote, followed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon with between 18% to 19%. Centrist Édouard Philippe and centre-left Raphaël Glucksmann trailed behind with 11% to 14%, and 11% to 13% respectively.
Riner’s announcement follows in the wake of weeks of civil unrest across France after students protests over staff shortages and dilapidated schools, have broadened into wider demonstrations over the future direction of the country amid concerns over the rising cost of living and fears over the implications of AI for work and labor rights.
Olympics star Riner told ‘Le Parisien’ that his aim was to bring the French population together and that he would be positioned “neither to the right, nor the left.”
