Teddy Riner Enters the 2027 French Presidential Race
Five-time Olympic judo champion Teddy Riner announced his candidacy for the 2027 French presidential election on November 9, 2026.
Riner stated in a video and an interview with Le Parisien that he is running to prove France can be uplifted and to become a president who unifies the country.
While a presidential bid is a first for a French athlete, the transition from sports arenas to political offices follows a long-established tradition under the Fifth Republic. Numerous former champions have previously secured high-profile government positions, most notably as ministers or secretaries of state for sports.
Precedents in Government and Sports Ministries
David Douillet, a fellow Olympic judo champion, served as a UMP deputy in the Yvelines department from 2009 to 2011 and from 2012 to 2017, and as minister of sports from September 2011 to May 2012. Douillet succeeded karateka Chantal Jouanno, who held the sports portfolio for less than a year from November 2010 to September 2011 after serving as secretary of state for ecology for nearly two years in François Fillon’s government.
Other former athletes who held sports ministerial posts include double Olympic fencing champion Jean-François Lamour (from 2002 to 2007), former rugby coach Bernard Laporte (from 2007 to 2009), and sprinter Roger Bambuck. Double Olympic fencing champion Laura Flessel (from May 2017 to September 2018) and Olympic swimming medalist Roxana Maracineanu (from September 2018 to May 2022) also headed the sports ministry in recent years.
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, a high-level tennis player who stopped her professional sports career at 18, first passed through the Ministry of National Education and Youth before heading the Ministry of Sports, and currently serves as head of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF).
Sports Figures Transition to Municipal and Parliamentary Careers
Several sports figures transitioned from competition to municipal and parliamentary careers. Rugby legend Serge Blanco serves as mayor of Biarritz since March 2026, while Olympic 110m hurdles champion Guy Drut spent decades as a deputy and served as minister of youth and sports from 1995 to 1997 in Alain Juppé’s governments. Jacques Chaban-Delmas, a rugby player and tennis player, led Bordeaux as mayor for 47 years before serving as prime minister from 1969 to 1972.
Pierre Rabadan, a Stade Français star from 2001 to 2015 and twice selected with the XV de France, became deputy mayor of Paris in July 2020. Guy Drut was re-elected as a deputy after serving as secretary of state between May 1995 and June 1997. Pierre Mazeaud served as an RPR deputy from 1986 to 1998, and subsequently as a member of the French Constitutional Council from 1998 to 2007, serving as its president starting in 2004.
Roger Bambuck served as secretary of state for sports for three years from 1988 to 1991 in Michel Rocard’s government. Guy Drut served as a right-wing deputy for Seine-et-Marne starting in 1986 and until 2007 under the RPR label, and as mayor of Coulommiers for nearly sixteen years from 1992 to 2008.
During municipal elections, sports figures such as former Olympique Lyonnais executive Jean-Michel Aulas, Montpellier Hérault Rugby president Mohed Altrad, and acrobatic skier Marie Martinod ran for mayor but failed to win election.
On an international scale, Riner’s ambition echoes the path of former Liberian president George Weah, the 1995 Ballon d’or winner who governed Liberia from 2018 to 2024.
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