President of France to. He was succeeded by Nicolas Sarkozy on 16 May 2007. Following a further change, the constitutional law on the modernisation of the institutions of the Fifth Republic, 2008, a President cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac are the only Presidents to date who have served a full two terms (14 years for the former, 12 years for the latter). In order to be admitted as an official candidate, potential candidates must receive signed nominations (informally known as "parrainages", for "sponsors") from more than 500 elected officials, mostly mayors. These officials must be from
France at the 2008 Summer Olympics July 28, 2008, following the French National Championships held in Albi. Frank Chevallier, the national technical director, believes that France has a better chance of winning two to four athletic medals. France is being represented by two athletes. France qualified nine boxers for the Olympic boxing tournament. Oubaali, Vastine, and M'Bumba qualified at the 2007 World Championships. Djelkhir became the fourth French qualifier at the first European qualifying tournament. Thomas, Hallab, Sow, and Chiguer joined the French Olympic team by qualifying at the 2nd continental qualifier. France sent a total of 35 swimmers to these Games, including Alain Bernard and