AFP
Double gold medalist in 2014 in Sochi, Martin Fourcade is the most successful Frenchman at the Olympic Games.
2030 Olympics – In the wake of the successful Paris Summer Olympics, all eyes are now on the 2030 Winter Olympics, which will be hosted in the French Alps. These should be a little more embodied in the coming hours: a meeting is to be held this Thursday, November 28 in Matignon and the name of the future boss of these Games could be announced.
After the success of Paris-2024 and the leading role played by Tony Estanguet, the position is particularly coveted. “Everyone agrees that he is a sportsman”several sources assured AFP in recent weeks. And on the starting line, if nothing is decided yet, Martin Fourcade remains the big favorite to lead the future Cojo, whose headquarters will be based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
The five-time Olympic biathlon champion, who put away his skis in 2020, seems on paper the ideal candidate, having just won a sixth Olympic gold medal, due to the confirmed sanction of a rival Russian for doping. Which quite simply makes him the most successful French athlete in the Olympics, an argument that weighs heavily in the balance.
FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
Martin Fourcade, here during the 142nd IOC session in Paris, July 24, 2024.
Emmanuel Macron himself dubbed the Pyrenean this summer in The Team considering it as the “Tony Estanguet of the mountains”. The champion was also on the podium in July alongside the Head of State to defend France's candidacy before the IOC, a few days before the opening of the Paris Games.
“The Élysée wants Fourcade, (Laurent) Wauquiez does not want him”
But, since September, he “no longer held the rope”several sources involved in the case explained to AFP. Its detractors highlight salary expectations that are too high and sponsorship contracts likely to give rise to conflicts of interest.
A member of the IOC Athletes' Commission and the board of directors of the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee, the person concerned defended himself in a long interview with The Team on October 23, officially applying. “The two long-term partnerships that I can have are with technical brands which, in my opinion, are not in contradiction with the partnership issues of the organizing committee, Rossignol and Odlo”he said. “The actors know my sensitivity, my unifying side and at the same time my desire to want ambitious, responsible, extraordinary Games”he also presented in this interview.
“The Élysée wants Fourcade, (Laurent) Wauquiez does not want him”summarize several sources to decipher the battle waged behind the scenes between the executive and the former president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who was co-president of the organizing committee for the Albertville Olympic Games in 1992, is watching the Olympic affair closely, as is the former interministerial delegate to the Olympic Games Michel Cadot, who has become one of his advisors.
Vincent Jay, Marie Martinod as suitors
And the story is not over. “Fourcade was out of the game 15 days ago but the Élysée and the IOC intervened and he is back in the race”a source close to the matter told AFP. “The only one who can compare with Estanguet is Fourcade”she adds. Behind the question of salary and the anticipation of possible conflicts of interest, “some especially consider that he is a little too independent”deciphered several sources at AFP.
Among the other people considered for the position, the name of another biathlete, Vincent Jay, is also circulating a lot, or that of Marie Martinod, freestyle ski champion. “I refuse to enter into a name war”Renaud Muselier, president of the Paca region, recently explained to AFP. “ It will be played out on the job sheet. We make a job sheet with a mode of operation that is not the same as in Paris”he added. The elected official pushed for there to be a woman. “They have different egos from men, it’s incredible”according to him.
AFP
At the 2014 Olympic Games in Stochi, Marie Martinod won the silver medal in skiing half-pipe. She hopes to play a central role in organizing the 2030 Winter Olympics in the Alps.
Eight-time Paralympic ski champion Marie Bochet, who also supported the French candidacy with Martin Fourcade, could obtain an important position in the organization if the latter obtained the position. While the fate of the Winter Olympics seems to be numbered in a future with less snow, the former champion hopes in particular that this 2030 edition will be in accordance with “a slightly more reasoned era”.
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