Grégory Baugé announced on Sunday that he was leaving his post as French sprint coach after the double failure at the Olympics and the Track Cycling World Championships.
“I alerted the federation a few weeks ago. I wanted to evolve in my missions to be more focused on detection,” declared the former four-time world champion during the last day of the Worlds in Ballerup, Denmark.
For the first time since 1990, France finished the World Championships without a medal or even a sprint final. Grégory Baugé’s collective had completely missed its Olympic meeting this summer – no medal for the first time since 1992 – and strong tensions had appeared between runners and management.
The tensions within the French team have not calmed down in Denmark, quite the contrary. On Wednesday, after the elimination in the first round in team speed, a traditional French bastion, the riders asked to “change everything”.
“The objective was not achieved, since the objective was to win,” Baugé replied on Sunday. But what displeases me is seeing athletes who don’t take responsibility. The federation will also recognize its faults, but when you are a high-level athlete, before looking elsewhere, you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror. »
Florian Rousseau noted on Sunday that “the sprint was not there” at the Games, and that “everyone has their responsibilities, the staff and the athletes”. But he also wanted to express his solidarity with Baugé “who fully fulfilled his mission of supporting the team until the Games”.
He also announced that “the athletes are summoned by the National Technical Directorate” on Monday and that announcements were planned immediately, in particular the appointment of a coach responsible for acting in the interim.
