Teddy Riner Launches France Presidential Bid at 37 as Le Pen Leads Polls

Q: Why did the USPS choose to honor sports legends Willie Mays and Pat Summitt alongside unicorns and vegetables for their 2027 collection?

USPS chose Willie Mays and Pat Summitt because its stamp program is designed to mix national tributes with broad, everyday themes that appeal to many kinds of mail users and collectors. Mays and Summitt were selected as major American sports figures with lasting cultural significance. Mays is being honored on the 50th stamp in the Black Heritage series, recognizing not only his baseball greatness and his famous 1954 World Series catch, but also his historical place bridging the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball. Summitt’s stamp recognizes her 1,098 wins, eight national titles at Tennessee, and her wider impact on women’s sports and equal opportunity under Title IX. The unicorns, vegetables, Halloween imagery and celebration-themed stamps serve a different but complementary purpose. USPS regularly balances commemorative subjects with lighter, decorative, seasonal and practical designs that people use on invitations, greeting cards and everyday mail. That is why the same annual program can include Black Heritage, sports history, Lunar New Year, Love, flowers, weddings, patriotic themes and whimsical subjects. In short, the 2027 collection reflects USPS’s usual strategy: honor important Americans and milestones while also offering visually appealing stamps for general public use. Mays and Summitt represent the heritage side of the program; unicorns and vegetables represent the popular, artistic and commercial side.

3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 9

Five-time Olympic gold medalist Teddy Riner said Monday he will run for president of France, casting himself as a nonpolitician who can restore “common sense, firmness, justice.”
Riner, 37, acknowledged he lacks political experience but said France needs a leader who “unites” and refuses to “stand by and watch the country burn.”
France heads into the race amid cost-of-living protests, deep political divisions and pressure to curb record debt, with the election six months away and President Emmanuel Macron barred after two terms.
Marine Le Pen is leading polls ahead of hard-left rival Jean-Luc Mélenchon, while more than a dozen figures have declared or been nominated, though the formal qualification period has not yet begun.
Riner said he would keep competing in judo during the campaign and, if elected, would still try to take part in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.