In two days, he has made a spectacular entrance into the race for the Élysée. On X and Instagram, the video of his candidacy announcement has accumulated more than 25 million views. He was known mainly in a kimono; he is now being discovered in the suit of a candidate.
Teddy Riner, 37, five-time Olympic judo champion, announced on Monday, November 9, in the columns of Le Parisien, his candidacy for the presidential election. The judoka describes himself as “neither left nor right.”.
The various campaign teams insist they are not under threat. The champion could nevertheless shake up the campaign. The first figures and the first reactions point above all to the electorate of La France Insoumise, while also blurring the centrist bloc.
Uncertainty remains over his chances. The first voting-intentions poll, conducted by Cluster17 and published on Sunday by Politico, credits him with only 2% of the vote in an 18-candidate scenario. According to the Toluna Harris Interactive barometer published on Monday, he has an electoral potential of 10%.
According to an Ifop poll for LCI and Sud Radio published on Tuesday, 70% of French people have a favorable opinion of the king of the tatami and 22% say they are ready to put his name in the ballot box. So many figures that do not dispel the doubt: his atypical profile appears capable of appealing to electorates from diverse backgrounds.
The same institute measures very different reservoirs of support across political families. Thus, 91% of Renaissance supporters have a favorable opinion of the five-time champion and 24% say they are ready to vote for him. Among Green voters, the figure is 32%; among Socialists, 20%.
This electorate, drawn rather from the middle and working classes, partly overlaps with that of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Teddy Riner could take votes from him among 18- to 24-year-olds, all the more so because he himself embodies diversity as a Black man, according to analyses reported in the campaign.
A little further to the right, voters appear in theory less permeable. In a field already crowded with declared or potential candidates, this new name will above all revive the debate over a possible primary of the center and the right.
The judoka is now a politician. This public ambition is the result of a long process. He lends his face and his image to Neoness gyms and Carrefour supermarkets: further suspensions of partnerships or adjustments are to be expected if his commitment continues. Since Monday, observers have been questioning the origins of this candidacy, what will become of it, and an electoral potential that remains hard to gauge.