the essential
From handball to horse riding, including athletics, several representatives of the department have been chosen to participate in the Paris Games, on the officials’ side.
While Ruthénoise Leïla Lacan is preparing to play her first Olympic preparation match with the French basketball team, other Aveyronnais are also warming up to reach Paris… but on the officials’ side. There will be at least four of them working in their favourite discipline, during the biggest sporting event in the world.
“I think it’s going to be a great adventure”
There will first be a bit of Aveyron in the Porte de Versailles Arena, thanks to the duo Gauthier Vernet-Sylvie Picard, who has been at the scorer’s table of the two highest national handball divisions since 2019, as well as in the French Cup and who also took part in international matches, such as the qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Olympics. They are part of the handful of 100% French elected officials who will hold the scorers’ tables from the group stages, in Paris (from July 25 to August 4), to the final stages, in Lille (from August 6 to 11). “ I think it’s going to be a great adventure “, smiles Gauthier Vernet, who has just taken over as president of Rignac Dourdou Vallon (RDV) handball. It has been almost a year since the man who also has experience as a referee, and his partner Sylvie Picard, representing the Aveyron committee, have known that they will be taking part in the Paris Olympics. “ And finally, it happens quickly ! “, he emphasizes. In a few weeks, the duo will return to the capital to refine the final technical details and embark on a real marathon.
And they won’t be the only ones! “I am very happy to participate in the Games but it will be very hard”, recognizes Rahel Brennenstuhl. The licensee at the Combelles equestrian center will also move on to Versailles. She was called as a steward for the Paralympic Games, from August 28 to September 11, for para-dressage more precisely. “The regulations are very thick and the role of a steward is to control everything, before and after the horse and its rider’s passage through the career”sums up the one who is also a national level judge. Brennenstuhl is used to international competitions and she is also preparing to fly to England to do a trial run with the team that will accompany her to the Games.
Finally, a fourth representative of the department will also officiate during the Paralympic Games, doing the double with the Olympics: Robert Hurtes. The Millavois will be at the Stade de France from August 2 to 11, then from August 30 to September 8 around the athletics track. An arena that he knows very well: it is there that in 2003, the only Aveyron resident to have the qualification of national referee officiated for the first time with this status, during the world championship. “I remember the noise it was when I first went in. After that, you get used to it”, notes the graduate of SO Millau, who has also worked during national and European athletics and para-athletics championships. Even if he recognizes that participating in the Games “has a special flavor.” During the summer, Robert Hurtes will be one of the four chief race marshals on the Stade de France track, before being in charge of the “transport for refreshment stations” on the Olympic marathons on August 10 and 11, as well as for the Paralympic Games in early September. “It was an offer I couldn’t refuse, and it’s an experience I can’t wait to have.”
