Olympic judo champion Riner announces run for French presidency - ESPN

Judo star Teddy Riner wants to be the next French president.

The 37-year-old multiple Olympic champion, who is consistently ranked among France's favorite public figures, announced his bid on social media on Monday. Riner, who has liberal economic views, said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper that he is positioning himself as «neither right-wing nor left-wing» and hopes to become a «president who brings people together.»

Asked whether his bid should be taken seriously, Riner said, «What would be irresponsible would be to remain silent and stand by as a spectator to what is happening in our country, and what has been happening for several years now.»

The French presidential election is being held next year, and campaigning is taking place in a tense social climate.

Protest marches have been drawing huge crowds for weeks in Paris and elsewhere across France as demonstrators demand higher wages and back the country's student protest movement, piling fresh pressure on the beleaguered government.

Riner said he is aware of the social tensions running through the country and that he can't accept young people and older generations saying they are struggling to imagine a future for themselves.

«I hear the anger, which some people echo in their rhetoric with a great deal of negativity, coming from people who no longer have any ambition or the desire to think big,» Riner said. «Yet France is a great country. It has allowed me to become the person I am today and given me the opportunity to dream big. Today, that is precisely what is missing. There is no longer that ambition, no longer that hope.»

Riner said in September that he wants to end his stellar career with a fourth individual Olympic gold medal at the Los Angeles