The name of the future president of the organizing committee for the 2030 Winter Olympic Games in the Alps should be revealed in the coming days. Former biathletes Martin Fourcade and Vincent Jay, as well as skier Marie Martinod are among the favorites.
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The 2030 Winter Olympics are still looking for their president. But the announcement of the future “Tony Estanguet” of these Games planned in the Alps will not be long in coming.
“Everyone agrees that he is a sportsman”several sources assured AFP in recent weeks. Yes, but who? A meeting is to be held this Thursday, November 28 in Matignon and the name of the future boss of the Olympics could be announced.
The five-time Olympic biathlon champion Martin Fourcade, who put away his skis in 2020, seems, on paper, the ideal candidate to embody these future Winter Olympics. Especially since he expanded his record with a sixth Olympic gold medal, due to the confirmed sanction of a Russian rival for doping, which makes him the most successful French athlete at the Olympics.
The President of the Republic himself dubbed the Pyrenean by considering him this summer in The Team like the “Tony Estanguet of the Mountains”. The champion was on the podium in July alongside Emmanuel Macron, precisely, to defend France’s candidacy before the IOC, a few days before the opening of the Paris Games.
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 Teamofficially 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 Élysée wants Fourcade, (Laurent) Wauquiez doesn’t want it”summarize several sources to decipher the battle waged behind the scenes between the executive and the former president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
We do not believe in an isolated presidency, which we saw a little in Paris 2024.
Fabrice Pannekoucke, president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
“The identikit (from the president of the organizing committee)he is someone who is committed to the same values as ours, those of sobriety and ethics”explained the current president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Fabrice Pannekoucke, in an interview for the show Dimanche en politique, broadcast on France 3 Alpes on Sunday November 24.
“We do not believe in an isolated presidency, which we saw a little in Paris 2024. We do not want that, we do not believe in it. I am not ruling out anyone. But this sharing of values is absolutely essential”he said, calling for more cooperation between the regions and the French Olympic and Paralympic committees.
So the story is not over. “Fourcade was out of the game 15 days ago but the Elysée 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.
I refuse to get into a name war.
Renaud Muselier, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region.
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. The name of another biathlete, Vincent Jay, also circulates 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, who pushed for there to be a woman, recently explained to AFP. “They have different egos from men, it’s incredible”according to him.
The State and the regions are also working on the institutional mechanism. A priorithe future Cojo will be an association, like “Paris 2024”, based in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Solideo, the future structure responsible for building the Olympic structures, should be based in Marseille.
The estimated budget is around two billion euros for the organization, and one billion for infrastructure. The financial guarantee from the State, which was not given in time due to the dissolution of the Assembly in June, must still be voted on in the budget.
While the fate of the Winter Olympics seems to be numbered in a future with less snow, the eight-time Paralympic ski champion Marie Bochet, who also nominated with Martin Fourcade, wants this 2030 edition to be in accordance with “a slightly more reasoned era”.
