David Douillet running for French Olympic committee top job

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.