Physical activity is beneficial to health and helps reduce the incidence of many diseases or their consequences. However, sports can also lead to accidents that may sometimes prove fatal. The objective of this study is to estimate the number of traumatic deaths related to sports participation in 2017 and 2018 in mainland France, based on media data sources available online. The context of sports participation could be professional, recreational, or commuting. Deaths while cycling and deaths by drowning while swimming were excluded if they did not occur during a confirmed sporting activity. Based on these data sources, in 2017, 401 people died while participating in sports; in 2018, this number rose to 409. Mountain sports account for 37% of deaths during sports activities. These are followed by water sports (23%), powered air sports (12%), motor sports (9%), other sports (8%), non-powered air sports (7%), and hunting (4%). Among the victims, men outnumber women by more than seven to one. The average age of victims is 47. The vast majority of victims (85%) were French nationals. These deaths occur more frequently in the summer for all sports and in both summer and winter for mountain sports. The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is the region most affected by these deaths (35% of all deaths), particularly for mountain sports accidents. The data collected is likely not exhaustive of all deaths related to sports participation: some may indeed have been omitted from this collection when the accident was not reported in the media. This study is simple and reproducible. It could be repeated in the future in partnership with the Ministry of Sports as part of the future Sports Accident Observatory, with the aim of developing targeted prevention campaigns tailored to different sports.