Teddy Riner candidate for the presidential election: a “legitimate” candidacy for the Minister of Sports

The candidacy for the 2027 presidential election of Teddy Riner, five-time Olympic judo champion, is “legitimate”, said Sports Minister Marina Ferrari on Tuesday, who “welcomed the man’s journey”. “He is no more illegitimate than any other,” declared the Minister of Sports, Marina Ferrari, on the sidelines of the Demain le sport event organized at the Maison de la radio, saying “to hear the little trial of illegitimacy which is starting to take hold” concerning judoka.

“I think her candidacy is legitimate, she gets along,” she explained. I can only salute the man's journey. For months, I have defended sportsmen and women who are politically engaged, saying that they are citizens like any other. So he has every right to get involved.” As for a possible combination of his mandate as President of the Republic and his sporting career, “it will be up to him to make choices. I fear that it will be difficult to carry out both,” said the Minister of Sports.

For Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, president of the Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), “the fact that Teddy is involved in this campaign, if it can help to convey this message of the importance of sport, that’s a plus.”

“Get out of our fears”

The president of the Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF) Marie-Amélie Le Fur, for her part, welcomed the fact of “seeing athletes who ultimately do not only wear the costume of high-level sportsman and who understand that, by the construction of their journey, by what they represent in the Nation, can also speak out”. “But he also wants to take concrete actions. So I welcome the approach in this sense. And we will listen to what he can offer in the field of sport,” she added.

Former handball player Nicolas Karabatic, for his part, judged Teddy Riner “very courageous to go on that pitch, in an important moment for our democracy. It’s a competition field but it’s not a handball court or judo tatamis, it’s another competition which is very difficult.” “I admire that he stands up for his convictions. We need to live together, to get out of our fears and sport is precisely a place where we learn to live together, to be a team. Maybe Teddy will be able to mobilize around all this. In any case, I will follow his candidacy with great attention,” added Karabatic.