French judo champion Teddy Renner, winner of five Olympic gold medals, announced Monday his candidacy for the 2027 French presidential elections to succeed President Emmanuel Macron, confirming in a video clip that his fighting career in sports will be his engine in the political arena.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 12:13 Last updated: 09/11/2026 - 13:09

In a surprising move for the French political arena, Teddy Renner, winner of five Olympic gold medals in judo and still practicing the sport, announced on Monday his candidacy for the presidency of France to succeed Emmanuel Macron in the presidential elections scheduled for 2027.

The announcement came via a video clip that the 37-year-old athlete posted on his social media accounts, where he appeared sitting in front of a library, wearing a white shirt and a dark jacket, to address the audience directly.

“My name is Teddy Renner, and today I tell you face to face, I am a candidate for the 2027 presidential elections,” said the 37-year-old Renner, sitting in front of a library, wearing a white shirt and a dark jacket, adding, “The struggle has always been a part of me. I know what it means to fight, to fall, to always rise.”

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Renner is considered the greatest judoka in the history of the game in his country, the most decorated in this sport in general in the history of the Olympic Games (5 titles, including 3 in singles), the most medal winner (5 gold and 2 bronze), and the most decorated French Olympic athlete in the Summer Games after he won two golds in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Renner has 12 world championship titles and 5 European championship titles in his record, in addition to several other titles, making him one of the greatest people to practice this sport.

Renner acknowledged that his candidacy might raise eyebrows, saying, “I know what will be said about me: ‘He is crazy, he does not belong to the institutions of power, he does not have their behaviors, and he has never practiced politics.’”

He added, "But ask yourselves with me: What seems crazy today? I did not spend my life behind a political platform, but the struggle has always been a part of me."

He continued, "If refusing to bow down and rejecting the chaos around me makes me crazy, then in this case, yes, I am crazy."

Renner launched his political party on Monday under the name "The France We Want."

He said, "I am not just a judo player. I refuse to be reduced to the status of a champion or an athlete whose role is limited to climbing to the podium, without having an opinion on anything else."

He explained that this decision, which he took after deep thought, goes back to the period of the Olympic Games in Paris in the summer of 2024, saying, “I saw an entire country uniting, proud and happy... and I said to myself: ‘If we succeed in achieving this throughout 15 days (the duration of the games), then we must be able to achieve it for the country.’”

Teddy Renner: “I'm not just a judoka”

In a lengthy interview with Le Parisien newspaper, the French athlete, who at the 2024 Paris Olympics became the first judoka to win three Olympic golds in the heavyweight category, explained that he intends to continue his sports career and even participate in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, “if the duties of the position allow me to do so and if the French agree to that.”

Although he admitted that “there are already a large number of candidates,” Renner stressed his determination to “go to the end,” adding that he would not have undertaken this initiative if he did not believe that he had “every chance” of success.

The judo player, who says he belongs neither to the right nor to the left, stressed that “the only danger I see today is surrendering to a choice between only two possibilities, two extreme possibilities,” referring to the far-right National Rally party and the left-wing France Proud Party.

France 24/AFP

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