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French judo champion Teddy Riner announced on Monday, through social media, a bid to become president of France in next year's election. Speaking to Le Parisien, the 37-year-old five-time Olympic champion said he is "neither right-wing nor left-wing" and hopes to unite a divided country. Riner said staying silent about the social tensions and protest marches across France would be irresponsible, and he described a loss of ambition and hope among young people and older generations. He said he would need 500 sponsorship signatures from elected officials to stand, as French law requires. He also said he had not given up on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, provided his duties as president allowed it. ESPN noted that opinion polls put the nationalist Marine Le Pen as front-runner ahead of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.