Teddy Riner's candidacy for the 2027 presidential election created a surprise on Monday in a campaign hitherto dominated in the media by Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. But what political position will the judo champion adopt? In a long interview with Le Parisien, he reveals rather liberal orientations, but could paradoxically take votes from the rebellious leader.

Published on: 10/11/2026 - 09:16

He is the candidate that no one expected and who could well create the first twists and turns of this presidential campaign. Five times Olympic champion and eleven times world judo champion, Teddy Riner is not just anyone in France. So when one of the French's favorite personalities launches into the race for the Élysée, it's bound to be an event.

Although he displayed his "anxiety" about the rise of the far right in France on September 16, during an interview with France Télévisions, Teddy Riner's political positioning was not known until now.

"Teddy Riner is an icon of French sport with extremely high popularity who is based on the values of sport: excellence, discipline, fraternity, respect. But this capital of sympathy will not necessarily transform into electoral capital. Because when they choose a president, the French decide on a presumed capacity to improve the situation of the country in terms of purchasing power, international tensions, public debt, the level of education, public services... So many subjects on which Teddy Riner is a profound blank slate for the French,” underlines Erwan Lestrohan, of the Odoxa polling institute, in an interview with AFP.

Also read: From Guy Drut to Teddy Riner: when French sports legends enter politics

The interview given to Le Parisien on Monday, November 9, in the wake of the announcement of his candidacy for the 2027 presidential election, however, allows us to see things more clearly and to identify his orientations and his inspirations. The judoka now a candidate presents himself, like Emmanuel Macron in 2017, as "neither on the right nor on the left", and claims to want to become a "president who unites".

Moreover, if he considers that the head of state "necessarily has a share of responsibility" in the current situation of the country, he refuses to put "on trial". "I'm not looking for someone to blame. I'm here to look for solutions," he says.

Teddy Riner, who reveals without mentioning having been approached by several candidates to join their team, reveals enough proposals to understand his political project, rather liberal from an economic point of view.

Return of Sarkozy's "Work more to earn more"

On purchasing power, the primary concern of the French according to all studies, he affirms that "we must increase the net salary, reduce the gap with the gross", thanks to "reductions in charges". A classic position of the liberal right, which considers that employee and employer contributions, which finance the French social model, are charges for companies.

He also wants to “enable French people who want to increase their income by working more” by breaking “from the fixed shackles of the 35-hour week”. A formula reminiscent of Nicolas Sarkozy's famous formula in 2007: "Work more to earn more".

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On pensions, Teddy Riner is not talking about a return of the legal retirement age to 62 and even less about a return to 60. According to him, the retirement system must be reformed because “the current system does not hold up”. “We are going to rework it, taking into account demographics, while keeping our solidarity system by distribution. While taking into account an important criterion for me, that of the arduousness of certain professions”, he affirms, before adding that he does not exclude introducing “a share of capitalization”.

The judo champion also believes that “we are not condemned to suffer from debt” and that it is possible to “spend less and re-inject better”.

Teddy Riner finally speaks out against the blocking of high schools, even if he considers the demands of high school students "real". "We cannot prevent those who want to work from studying peacefully. If you want to demonstrate, OK. But those who want to work, they work", he insists, while believing that "those who prevent are not necessarily students, but thugs who interfere in the movements".

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So many positions which classify him as center or center-right and which could make him the third Macronist candidate in the presidential election with Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal – two candidates whose campaign is slipping and who did not need one more competitor.

Raphaël Glucksmann, who has a more left-wing project than the former heads of government of Emmanuel Macron, could also suffer from this new candidacy.

A candidate who could weaken Jean-Luc Mélenchon

“The risk is also to weaken the candidates who are best able to confront the National Rally, by eating away at votes on the left and right, by accentuating the dispersion of votes,” notes Erwan Lestrohan at Odoxa.

But paradoxically, Teddy Riner could also and above all take votes from Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Firstly because he could attract many voters from Guadeloupe, the overseas department where he comes from and where the news was warmly received, according to Le Parisien. However, Jean-Luc Mélenchon had attracted 75,862 voters on this island during the first round of the 2022 presidential election, or 56.16% of the votes.

Teddy Riner, who recently lost a lawsuit against the tax authorities as part of a tax adjustment, is also very popular among young people and intends to take action against racism, an issue dear to Jean-Luc Mélenchon. "Anti-racism must be the fight of all, not the concern of a single party. Racism is not an opinion, it is an offense which is condemned, I remind you. I myself have been the victim of racist acts, I know what it is.

“When we look at the structure of the population which declares that it could vote for Teddy Riner, there are two points which are striking: it is a public which is young – and we know that this is the type of electorate which can vote for Jean-Luc Mélenchon – and it is an electorate which is located rather to the left on the political spectrum. We even have one in five people who are close to La France insoumise who declared 'Why not Teddy Riner' before the formalization of his candidacy So it could be a stone in Jean-Luc Mélenchon's shoe", explains Jean-Daniel Lévy, deputy director of Toluna-Harris Interactive, interviewed by RTL.

Moreover, if he had targeted the extreme right in his interview in September with France Télévisions, Teddy Riner today takes up a formula of the government and the right on the subject of LFI and the RN by establishing an equal sign between these two parties, when he evokes in Le Parisien the "risk" of being "resigned to choosing between two possibilities, those of the extremes".

A posture which could only please the President of the Republic, anxious to preserve his record, and therefore to see one of his heirs reach the second round rather than Jean-Luc Mélenchon. “I am very happy (...) that someone like Teddy Riner, who is a great champion, decides to engage in this presidential debate and to bring his convictions, his ideas, his talent, that can only benefit the country,” rejoiced Emmanuel Macron Monday evening on France 5.

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