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 Games in 2028. Asked by Le Parisien if his presidential bid means he is giving up on the Olympics, the 2.04-meter (6-foot-8) heavyweight said no.
“Not if my duties as president allow it and the French people give me their blessing,” the 11-time world champion said.
French authorities in September said they investigated online racial abuse aimed at Riner after he expressed concern about the rise of the far right. In an interview with French sports television show Stade 2, Riner said he was “freaked out” by the rise of extremism. Asked if he meant “on both sides” — meaning the far left and far right — Riner replied “the far right.”
According to opinion polls, the nationalist Marine Le Pen is the front-runner to replace Emmanuel Macron, ahead of hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Other aspirants include two former prime ministers of Macron. Candidates from the moderate left and right, the Green party and conservatives, are also running, among others.
“The country is experiencing deep divisions right now, let’s not kid ourselves,” Riner said. “And in the face of that, I don’t see a single candidate putting forward a credible and fair vision capable of bringing the French people together rather than dividing them. There is no one today offering genuine, sincere hope. It’s always one side against another. I’m running for president to show that we can get France back on its feet. We are capable of achieving great things together.”
In order to stand, Riner will need to gather 500 sponsorship signatures from elected officials, as required by French law.
Asked about what would be his first initiative on the international stage if he is elected, Riner said he wants to make sure France works well with its allies and commands greater respect.
“A lot of people around me have been talking about my first handshake with Donald Trump,” he said, laughing. “We’ll see who has the firmer handshake.”
FILE - French judo champion Teddy Riner arrives at the Elysee Palace before a state dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron for Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on June 5, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
KRAKOW, Poland (AP) — The 24-year-old gunman who killed six people and wounded 15 others in a Polish city square died in a hospital on Monday, police said.
The attacker, wearing military-style clothing and a bulletproof vest, drove into the main square in Krakow’s Old Town on Saturday and opened fire. The square is a major tourist destination in Poland’s second-largest city. Several foreigners were among the dead and wounded.
The gunman died at 4:30 a.m., authorities said. He had been in critical condition since the attack and had undergone several operations.
Authorities also found the bodies of his sister, mother and father at the family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of Krakow. They likely died from gunshot wounds.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said Saturday that the attacker held “very radical” and “ultranationalistic” views.
Authorities were still examining the evidence Monday.
“We are first of all investigating if he was inspired by anyone, if someone helped him,” Eryk Stasielak of the Krakow branch of the national prosecutor’s office told The Associated Press. “We have secured his electronic devices and we will try to open them and get to the contents.”
Interior Ministry spokesperson Karolina Gałecka said that authorities were examining the meaning of numerous symbols and patches sewn onto the attacker’s clothing or found at his home.
Prosecutors said they found a yellow flag bearing a black snake, known as the Gadsden flag, hanging on the wall of the attacker’s room. The flag originated during the American Revolution and was later adopted by the U.S. Tea Party movement.
Authorities said they believed the attacker killed his family, possibly while they slept, before heading to Krakow.
Seven weapons were found in the family home, bringing the total recovered to 11, prosecutors said. Four others, including two AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, were found on the attacker or in his car in Krakow. Dozens, if not hundreds, of shots were fired during the attack, they said.
The attacker and his father held gun permits. The attacker had trained at a local shooting club, which said in a statement that he “was never trained in our club in the areas of dynamic, tactical or combat shooting.”
Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland. However, in mid-October three attacks at schools in the central province of Mazovia took place within four days, leaving one person dead and many wounded, including children. The attackers used knives or sharp objects and some were said to be interested in the far-right.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the school attacks were fueled by the online “glorification of violence.” He said the acts could be associated with “nihilistic violence,” a term used by authorities to describe acts of violence driven by a nihilistic worldview and misanthropy rather than specific political goals.
The Krakow attacker’s military-style equipment and weapons were similar to those of other “extreme right lone actors” committing attacks around Europe and the world, said Kacper Rekawek, a senior researcher at the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague. “We have had attempts before, but now we can say that these kinds of attacks have become successful in Poland.”
Rekawek said that even without an explicit link between the Krakow attack and incidents of school violence, they could be viewed as part of “a series.”
A video posted on social media showed a police officer repeatedly firing at the attacker as he lay in the street. An image of the wounded officer kneeling beside the attacker has since gone viral in Poland.
“Senior police officers Jakub Kulik and Artur Morański are real heroes,” Tusk wrote on X. “They most likely saved the lives of many human beings, without regard for the risk of losing their own lives. Their state is serious, but they are under very good care. All Poland keeps fingers crossed for you.”
The two officers were patrolling the area when they were called to intervene. Police fired the first shot within three minutes of receiving the initial report. The officers chased the attacker and fired at him with their service weapons as he fired a semi-automatic rifle. Kulik continued firing even after he was shot. Both officers were seriously wounded.
Kulik, 24, was in critical condition, prompting officials to issue an urgent appeal for blood donations. A fundraiser for the officers and their families has so far raised more than 6 million zlotys ($1.5 million).
Krakow’s mayor announced that both officers would be named honorary citizens of the city.
Two surgeons who happened to be nearby during the attack helped save the officers’ lives.
“He took care of the officer who subdued the attacker because he truly needed urgent help,” Krakow surgeon Michał Pędziwiatr said of fellow surgeon Mateusz Wierdak. “Without protection, without gloves, he simply focused on the officer, stopping the bleeding in his chest. This probably saved his life.”
Izabela Woźna, a 53-year-old painter and mother of four, was killed in the attack. She had opened an exhibition of her work in Krakow on Friday evening.
Krakow Academy of Fine Arts confirmed that Magdalena Oksińska — the suspect’s sister — had been one of its third-year students. It said an employee’s sister had also been shot twice.
“Nothing will ever be like before. The delicate tissue of our academic community was painfully wounded,” the academy said in a statement Sunday.
“Magdalena Oksińska, 21 years old, a queer person, was an absolutely talented painter, photographer, poet and writer,” architect Pavko Krajka wrote in a social media post accompanied by images of her colorful paintings.
“Her death is a great loss for Krakow, Polish, European and queer culture.”
People look to a bullet hole in the window of a restaurant at the main square two days after a shooting in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
A woman lights a candle to commemorate the victims two days after a shooting in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
A woman with a dog crying near the main square two days after a shooting in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
A man holds a candle as he stands at the main square in Krakow, Poland, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026 where several people were shot the day before. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
People arrive at the main square in Krakow, Poland, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026 where several people were shot the day before. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
A couple embrace in the main square in Krakow, Poland, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026, where several people were shot the day before. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
Chairs lie scattered across a cafe terrace at the main square in Krakow, Poland, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026 where several people were shot the day before. (AP Photo/Beata Zawrzel)
