France’s multiple Olympic gold-medallist in judo, Teddy Riner, announced on Monday that he is running for the French presidency.
“I know what it’s like to fight,” declared Teddy Riner, The Economist reported. Seated before a sober bookshelf and a French tricolore flag, the 37-year-old athlete stunned France by declaring his candidacy on X, where his video declaration surpassed 14 million views within 48 hours.
That digital reach outpaced Marine Le Pen’s presidential-style address following recent riots, according to The Economist. The unexpected entry of one of the country’s most popular athletes comes five months before voters go to the polls to replace President Emmanuel Macron, The New York Times reported.
While Riner is considered an unlikely winner, his quixotic candidacy highlights a presidential campaign where many voters are desperate for a fresh face, The New York Times noted. The race is currently on a glide path toward the election of France’s first far-right government since World War II, driven by weeks of violent protests that have reinforced the commanding lead of Le Pen.
Centrist voters are afraid of being confronted with a duel between Le Pen and Mélenchon, said Jean-Daniel Lévy, deputy director of Toluna France, The New York Times reported. These voters form an orphan electorate that lacks an inspiring candidate and remains actively looking for someone, Lévy added.
Raphaël LLorca, an analyst at the Jean-Jaurès Foundation in Paris, described the search for a white knight as evidence of the panic gripping the centrist bloc, The New York Times noted. LLorca said that it is clear the election is slipping away from them.
Consequently, the leader of France Unbowed expressed clear satisfaction with the decision.
“We know how it goes: neither right nor left means not left,” Mélenchon told reporters on Friday, according to BBC News.
“did not belong to the professionals” President Emmanuel Macron said, describing Riner as a great champion and asserting that politics “did not belong to the professionals”. That reaction aligns with the president’s cool relations with his former prime ministers, Philippe and Attal, both of whom are doing all they can to distance themselves from their unpopular one-time boss.
Riner rejected the endorsement, viewing it as a poisoned chalice. He told reporters on Saturday that he was not the president’s envoy and was not a Macronist, BBC News stated.
As Riner transitions from the tatami mat to the political arena, he will find that politics operates with little resemblance to judo, which translates literally to “the gentle way”, BBC News observed. Should his campaign gain serious momentum, his physical and daily life will face complete disruption in a system where opponents exchange metaphorical headbutts rather than bows of respect.
