Judoka Teddy Riner’s entry into the race is shaking up the contest for the Élysée Palace

On Monday, multiple judo champion Teddy Riner, one of the leading figures in French sport, announced his candidacy for the presidential elections. He did so in a low-key video, filmed in front of a bookshop, highlighting both his view of the crisis and his desire to offer France a new perspective. This move marks a potential turning point in the presidential campaign. Teddy Riner positions himself in the centre, in the space that Macron had managed to occupy in 2017, rejecting the extremes. The first, fundamental aspect is that of identity: Riner is a national and global legend, a multiple champion in the top tier of judo, a popular sport in France, where the federation has around 600,000 members. He embodies the values of judo – those of combat, but also of respect for one’s opponent. Furthermore, Riner is one of the faces of a winning France, certainly a very positive image, well reflected in the success of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Finally, Riner’s family hails from French Guadeloupe, a territory with a long history as part of France, and thus embodies the diversity championed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon through the concept of ‘Nouvelle France’. In fact, Riner appears to be a living anti-racist symbol.

Riner thus presents an identity capable of winning the support of a wide range of groups who see him as their champion, with young people leading the way. He could also be seen as a French example of figures from so-called ‘civil society’ entering the political arena. This aspect was also highlighted by Emmanuel Macron, who welcomed the judoka’s candidacy. With his moderate statements, speaking of the future but also of the need for order and debt reduction, Riner has positioned himself among the centrist section of the electorate, which currently lacks a competitive candidate for the presidential election. Among Bruno Retailleau, David Lisnard, Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal, there is a certain sense of disarray, as they are all now polling below 10 per cent. Riner therefore represents a potential wild card for this political space.

This raises the question of the operational capacity to turn the announcement of a candidacy into a winning election campaign. Riner is not alone: he benefits from the support of entrepreneur Philippe Véran, a businessman deeply rooted in the country’s economic fabric, who was one of Emmanuel Macron’s early supporters in 2017. Riner has also founded the movement “La France qu’on veut”, and François Braun, who served as Health Minister in 2022, is one of the first members of this team. Furthermore, the new candidate reportedly met Jean-Louis Borloo last Saturday, a highly influential former centrist minister, who is said to have welcomed the candidacy. Riner’s popularity, on the one hand, and the goodwill expressed by Macron, on the other, should enable him to reach the threshold of 500 signatures from elected representatives required to formalise his candidacy. A tough campaign will then begin, and it remains to be seen to what extent he is equipped to handle the harsh rhetoric of political competition. Nevertheless, he is already shaking things up in the centre, where none of the minor candidates had managed to capture the electorate’s imagination. He also poses a serious threat both to Jean-Luc Mélenchon – from whom he could draw away a section of the youth vote in the name of defending diversity – and to Marine Le Pen, given his ability to embody a break with the system more effectively than the former far-right leader, daughter of Jean-Marie.