除了想把对手摔倒在地板上这种压倒性的冲动之外，政治与顶级柔道界之间并没有明显的联系。
Apart from an overwhelming urge to pin one's opponent to the floor of the house, there is no obvious connection between politics and the world of top-level judo.
但这并没有阻止法国荣誉满身的世界重量级冠军泰迪·里纳投身明年四月的总统大选。
That has not stopped France's much-garlanded world heavyweight champion Teddy Riner from throwing his hat into the ring for next April's presidential race.
这位出生于瓜德罗普岛的37岁选手可能没有公职经验，没有政党支持，目前也没有竞选纲领。到目前为止，只有“我们热爱的法国”这一口号、社交媒体上的声明，以及一次前往巴黎北部塞纳-圣但尼省一家医院的竞选探访。但要是有评论家完全否定他的机会，那将是鲁莽的。
The Guadeloupe-born 37-year-old may have no experience of public office, no party behind him, and as yet no manifesto. All so far is a slogan La France qu'on aime (The France we love), a declaration on social media, and a campaign visit to a hospital in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of northern Paris. But it would be a foolhardy pundit who would totally write off his chances.
毕竟，里纳是当代法国最受欢迎的人物之一，经常在代表国家“价值观”的民调中名列前茅。他是一位经证实的赢家，拥有五枚奥运金牌和11个世界冠军头衔，在商业领域也拥有成功的事业。
Riner is, after all, one of the most popular figures in modern-day France, regularly topping the polls for embodying the nation's "values". He is a proven winner, with five Olympic golds and 11 world championships under his belt, as well as a successful career in business.
超过2800万人在Instagram和X上观看了他的竞选宣传片，画面背景是书架和法国国旗，充满了总统的庄重感。在24小时内，一项Ifop民调显示，22%的受访者表示他们“可能”会投他一票。
More than 28 million people have watched his election broadcast on Instagram and X, shot with proper presidential decorum against a backdrop of books and a French flag. Some 22% told an Ifop poll within 24 hours they "could" vote for him.
在其他国家，演员和电视名人都当过总统。利比里亚前领导人乔治·维阿曾是职业足球运动员。那么，为什么柔道家不能进入爱丽舍宫呢？
Actors and television personalities have become presidents in other countries. The ex-leader of Liberia – George Weah – was formerly a professional footballer. So why not a judoka in the Élysée Palace?
《费加罗报》的纪尧姆·塔巴尔表示：“任何认为脱离政治核心圈子就让里纳失去竞选爱丽舍宫资格的人，都大错特错。”
"Anyone who thinks that being out of the political in-crowd disqualifies Riner from running for the Élysée would be very wrong," says Guillaume Tabard of Le Figaro.
“但如果里纳认为只要不属于核心圈子就足够了，他也同样大错特错。”目前，整个法国政坛都决定认真对待里纳的参选——或者至少装作认真对待。这在一定程度上是因为他极受欢迎，嘲笑他的政治抱负很容易适得其反。
"But [Riner] too would be wrong if he thinks not belonging to the in-crowd is all it takes." For now the whole of the French political world has decided to take the Riner candidacy seriously – or at least to pretend to. That is partly because he is such a popular personality that mocking his political hopes could easily rebound badly.
但这也源于法国政治的现状——除去正在壮大的极左与极右力量之外——呈现出一片彻底的混乱。
But it is also because the state of French politics – outside of the burgeoning forces of the hard left and hard right – is one of total disarray.
中间派陷入挣扎，迄今未出现任何一位候选人，能激发出类似极右翼领袖玛丽娜·勒庞和极左翼领袖让-吕克·梅朗雄那种使命感；这两人眼下看来将在五月的总统决选中正面交锋。
The centre-ground is floundering, with no candidate yet emerging who can inspire anything like the sense of mission of hard-right leader Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon on the hard left, who for now look set to face off in the final round of the presidential election in May.
因此，当雷内这样一位广受欢迎的人物宣布参选——自称“既非左派也非右派”，主张“团结国家”并“让民众腰包鼓起来”，同等抨击“种族主义者”和“吓得民众不敢上街的流氓”时，政客们不得不予以关注。
So when a popular figure like Riner enters the race - proclaiming himself "neither left, nor right", wanting to "unite the country" and "put money back in people's pockets", railing equally against "racists" and "yobs who scare people off our streets" – politicians have to take note.
雷内的竞选活动在短暂热度后烟消云散、柔道冠军最终沦为一张“王牌中的小丑”，这完全可能，甚至很有可能。但也可能不会，届时大选前的政治算术将需匆忙重新计算：到时候笑到最后的不会是中间派。
It is perfectly possible, probable even, that Riner's campaign will fizzle out after a brief period of hype, and that the judoka will after all be a joker in the pack. But it is also possible that it won't, in which case the pre-election arithmetic will need a hasty readjustment: and it won't be the centrists who are smiling.
迄今为止，雷内展现出了驾驭这种“横空出世式”参选所需规则的高超技巧，首条规则便是反复强调：“别担心！我不是政治家！”在当下的法国，凡带有“体制”气息者，在选民眼中自动降级，因此必须强调：你参选仅因一、你经历过真实生活（不同于那些在巴黎混日子的懒汉）；二、你发现了解决国家诸多难题的办法。这些办法被那些同样目光短浅的机关官僚视而不见。
Thus far, Riner has shown himself a master of the codes required for this kind of out-of-nowhere candidacy, the first of which is to press home the message: "Don't Worry! I'm NOT a Politician!" In this day and age in France, anyone who smacks of the "system" is automatically downgraded in voters' eyes, so it is important to emphasise that you are only running for office because, one, you have experienced real life (unlike those loafers in Paris); and two, you have discovered that there are solutions out there for the country's many problems. Solutions that are invisible to those same blinkered apparatchiks.
雷内在上周一的社交媒体直播中，运用老练的修辞手法，将上述所有内容表达了出来。“人们说我想竞选总统是傻瓜，”他说。
All this Riner was able to express in last Monday's social media broadcast by using sophisticated rhetorical devices. "People say I am a fool for wanting to run for the presidency," he said.
“难道我是个傻瓜？好吧，如果拒绝眼睁睁看着法国在债务重压下沉沦；拒绝看着父母每周采购时都咬紧牙关，看着孩子走上街头时心惊胆战……如果这一切都意味着是个傻瓜，那好，就叫我傻瓜吧。”这位运动员的演讲开场颇具感染力，确实吸引了观众的目光。
"Am I a fool? Well, if refusing to see France sink under the weight of debt; refusing to see mothers and fathers grit their teeth every time they do their weekly shop, and tremble with fear when their kids go out on the street… if all that means being a fool, then yes call me a fool." It was a promising oratorial start for the sportsman, and certainly attracted the viewers.
但如果他是认真的——雷内表示他从不半心半意地做事，这也不是他成为奥运冠军的方式——那么真正的硬仗现在才开始。
But if he is serious – and Riner says he never does anything half-heartedly - that's not how he became an Olympic champion – then the hard work begins now.
雷内到底想做什么？他的团队会有谁？在当下吞噬一切精力的议题上——养老金改革、教育投资、生活成本、公共债务、民粹主义抬头、俄乌战争——他将如何定位？
What does Riner actually want to do? Who will be on his team? Where does he position himself on the all-consuming matters of the day: pension-reform, investment in education, the cost of living, public debt, the rise of populism or Russia's war in Ukraine?
简而言之，他打算如何将作为体育明星毋庸置疑的知名度转化为政治授权？
In short, how does he intend to transform his undeniable popularity as a sporting figure into a political mandate?
总体而言，雷内在经济议题和治安问题上似乎偏右，但作为一名加勒比裔黑人，他在反种族主义立场上非常坚定。当他说自己反极端主义时，主要指的是马琳·勒庞。换句话说，他的主张处于中间地带，反对极端。
Broadly, Riner appears to be on the right on economic matters and law and order, but being black and of Caribbean background he is also very strong on racism. When he says he is anti-extremism, he is referring mainly to Marine Le Pen. In other words his pitch is somewhere in the centre, and against the extremes.
麻烦在于，这一领域已经极其拥挤，前总理爱德华·菲利普和加布里埃尔·阿塔尔等重要人物都明显未能崭露头角。
The trouble is, this is already an extremely crowded area, with important figures like ex-prime ministers Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal signally failing to take off.
目前在中间偏右到中间偏左这一区间，已有十几位候选人，跨度从社会党支持的拉斐尔·格吕克斯曼到共和党的布鲁诺·勒塔约。
Currently there are a dozen or so candidates in the area between centre right and centre left, stretching from the Socialist-backed Raphaël Glucksman to the Republicans' Bruno Retailleau on the right.
最新可能加入的竞争者是克里斯蒂娜·拉加德，她将于明年2月卸任欧洲央行行长。
The latest possible addition is Christine Lagarde, who steps down as head of the European Central Bank next February.
又一竞争者的加入将进一步稀释他们的民调支持率，使梅朗雄更有可能晋级第二轮。
The addition of yet another contender will dilute their polling numbers even further, making a second-round qualification for Mélenchon more likely.
难怪“不屈法国”（LFI）领导人梅朗雄对里内尔决定参选显得如此高兴。“我们很清楚怎么回事：既非右派也非左派，意味着不是左派，”梅朗雄周五对记者说。
So no wonder the leader of France Unbowed (LFI) seemed so happy about Riner's decision to run. "We know how it goes: neither right nor left means not left," Mélenchon told reporters on Friday.
唯一另一位似乎真心高兴、而非挂着职业性微笑的政客，是总统马克龙。马克龙称里内尔是“伟大的冠军”，并表示政治“不属于职业政客”。
The only other politician who seems genuinely pleased, rather than putting on a fixed smile, is President Emmanuel Macron, who said Riner was a "great champion" and that politics "did not belong to the professionals".
这或许可以用总统与其前任总理菲利普和阿塔尔关系冷淡来解释，这两人都在竭力与他们那位不得人心的前老板划清界限。
That could be explained by the president's cool relations with his former prime ministers, Philippe and Attal, both of whom are doing all they can to distance themselves from their unpopular one-time boss.
里内尔表示，他把马克龙的赞誉视为“毒杯”，周六对记者说：“我不是总统的特使，我不是马克龙派。”
Riner said he viewed Macron's praise as a "poisoned chalice", telling reporters on Saturday that he was "not the president's envoy, I'm not a Macronist".
政治与柔道几乎没有共同之处，但两者之中，正如里内尔很快就会发现的，更恶毒的不是在榻榻米上相互致意后展开的肉搏。柔道在日语中原意是“柔之道”。
Politics and judo have very little in common, but of the two, as Riner will soon discover, the more vicious is not the one that is fought out hand-to-hand after mutual acknowledgement on the tatami mat. In Japanese, judo actually means "the gentle way".
如果他开始显得像个有竞争力的候选人，里内尔必须清楚，将被彻底颠覆的不仅是他的身体状态，还有他的生活。
If he starts looking like a serious candidate, Riner must know his life will be turned upside down, not just his physical form.
在政治中，你不会向对手鞠躬致敬。你会给他一个隐喻的“顶撞”。
In politics you do not bow in respect to your opponent. You give him a metaphorical headbutt.