• Analysis
Teddy Riner Presidential Candidate Run Draws Press Warnings Over Risks
French Olympic judo champion Teddy Riner, who announced on November 10, 2025 that he will run in next year's presidential elections, is facing scepticism from French-language press over what the candidacy could cost him and what it says about France politics.
The announcement itself came quickly: on November 10, 2025, the five-time Olympic judo champion told his followers on social media that he would stand in next year's French presidential election, and an exclusive interview with Aujourd'hui en France - Le Parisien followed. But the French-language press review that carried the news spent less time on the declaration than on the questions around it - what the Teddy Riner presidential candidate run might cost the man himself, and what it exposes about the state of France politics.
What the five-time champion risks
Le Parisien's own editor set out the stakes plainly. The paper praised Riner's style, yet its editor warned that the gamble could undo much of what the judoka has built outside politics.
"he has a lot to lose with this candidacy – his popularity in France, his sponsors but also his possible bid for the 2028 Olympics"
Per the review, the editor's warning amounts to a three-part risk for the athlete:
- •his popularity in France, built over a career as a five-time Olympic champion
- •his commercial sponsors
- •his possible bid for the 2028 Olympics
Tax and vaccination questions
The review also flagged two vulnerabilities that could draw criticism during a campaign. Riner has recently dealt with tax issues, and he has previously drawn criticism for declining to urge people in Guadeloupe - the French overseas territory he comes from - to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
An alternative to the frontrunners
In his Le Parisien interview, Riner framed his candidacy as a third way between the two likely frontrunners, both of which he and the review describe as extremist: Marine Le Pen on the far right and Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the hard left.
Newspapers, though, read the opening differently. Sports paper L'Équipe noted that more and more sportsmen and women seem ready to enter politics and give their opinions on issues beyond sports venues - a shift Riner's run now embodies. La Charente Libre went further, writing that with all respect to Riner, his candidacy is above all a symptom of France's political malaise.
Le Temps placed part of the blame for that malaise higher up. The paper holds President Emmanuel Macron partly responsible, arguing that for 10 years he siphoned away support from the two main political parties, with only the extremists left - the vacuum that figures like Riner are now stepping into.
The 500-signature hurdle
Le Temps was also the most sceptical about whether such candidacies ever get off the ground at all. The paper pointed out that these would-be candidates will need 500 signatures to run - a hurdle that in practice often sees minor hopefuls trade their support for a frontrunner in exchange for a ministerial post.
For now, whether Riner's candidacy proceeds rests on collecting the 500 signatures that every presidential candidate needs to run.
