David Douillet running for French Olympic committee top job
Posted February 22, 2017 6:00 am
PARIS (AP) - Former Olympic judo champion David Douillet will run for the French Olympic committee presidency later this year.
Douillet, a gold medalist at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and a four-time world champion, told L'Equipe newspaper that he will challenge current president Denis Masseglia in the May election.
After retiring, Douillet embraced a political career and was briefly sports minister under former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Douillet, who is a lawmaker in the French parliament with right-wing party Les Republicains, said he believes his candidacy won't damage France's chances in the race for the 2024 Olympics, where Paris is competing against Los Angeles and Budapest.
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