Paris 2024 Olympics: “a sales sequence for French sport!” Two years before the Games in France, the authorities of sport wavering
The French Football Federation and its president in the eye of the storm, his counterpart of the Rugby Federation in court, an Olympic committee in full psychodrama: the authorities of French sport are going through a stormy period, two years from the Paris Olympics .
Is there something rotten in the kingdom of French sport? The accumulation of extra-sporting cases that has hit the governing bodies lately constitutes, according to a source close to the Olympic movement, “a dirty sequence for French sport, delivering a very bad image two years from the Olympic Games of Paris”.
The French Football Federation mired in suspicion of inappropriate acts by its president towards women, its counterpart from the Rugby Federation in court, an Olympic committee in full psychodrama: the period is complicated, two years from the Paris Olympics .
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It is now difficult for the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, to escape questions about this noria of crises during her media interventions.
“The damage is done”
During one of his recent outings on BFM-TVreferring to the various cases affecting the French Football Federation (FFF) published in the press, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra assumed that she “needed” a sport “a little cleared of a certain number of dysfunctions”.
Became destined by an audit mission that the minister brought a week after the publication, on September 8, of an investigation by the magazine So walkthe institution is rocking dangerously, while the World Cup is due to start in less than two months in Qatar (November 20 – December 18).
The “3F” filed a complaint a few days after the publication of the article which lists serious abuses within the federation, in particular sexual SMS that Noël Le Graët would have, according to the magazine which does not specify their date, sent to employees, which the president of the body denied in the press.
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But almost two weeks later, a well-followed independent French journalist, Romain Molina, published a series of papers on a Norwegian site accusing the FFF of covering up several cases of sexual abuse and harassment.
“The concern is that even if we learn in several months that there is nothing reprehensible, the damage is done in public opinion”, regrets a source close to the FFF. For rugby, the atmosphere is hardly more playful. The president of the Federation, Bernard Laporte, was a few days ago in the Paris criminal court, in particular for corruption, alongside other influential members of Ovalie.
Three years in prison were required to meet him, including a farm, and a two-year ban on any function in rugby. For the latter, in the event of conviction, a possible appeal by Barnard Laporte would not be suspensive. “One year from the Rugby World Cup in France, it’s a success,” says a source close to the executive.
To make matters worse, the National Olympic Committee (CNOSF), an institution that brings together sports federations, usually lurking in the shadows and unaccustomed to turmoil, is facing one of the most serious governance crises in its history. .
Clan war at the CNOSF
The stormy divorce between President Brigitte Henriques, elected a little over a year ago, and her secretary general, Didier Séminet, has sparked an internal war. Few observers envisage a rapid appeasement. “The CNOSF is not used for much except to serve a good image of French sport. It should be one of the tools for promoting the Olympics, but instead, we only talk about their ford -war”, summarizes this source.
“The state must intervene and put an end to this schoolyard atmosphere.” A report by the Court of Auditors also recently reframed the National Sports Agency (ANS), this tool created in 2019 to manage high-level sport and sport for all, asking it to “clarify” its missions.
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“It is indeed a period when the authorities do not give the image of serenity that they should”, corroborates a source close to the Olympic mysteries. “These different cases are not good for the image of French sport, but they are not representative of what is happening on the ground. French sport, for the most part, has rarely worked so well”, regrets the president of the Association of National Technical Directors (DTN), Ludovic Royé.