Outgoing president Jacques Lajuncomme was re-elected this Monday for the period 2024-2028. He was head of the “Réussir Ensemble” list which won 99.55% of the votes. The Federation’s steering committee has now grown to 28 members, with 14 women and 14 men. The results of the elections were announced this Monday shortly after 11 a.m. by the Electoral Monitoring Commission, made up of independent members.
The “Réussir Ensemble” list, led by outgoing president Jacques Lajuncomme, was the only one to have been submitted and was therefore submitted to the clubs’ votes electronically from December 12 to 16. Unsurprisingly, she won with 99.55% of the votes, with participation reaching 68.43%. Ten outgoing members, including President Lajuncomme, were re-elected for the next four years. The elections took place in two stages:
– the elections by single-member ballot from April 25 to 29 with the election of 1 woman and 5 men,
– the election by list ballot from December 12 to 16.
The “Succeed Together” list
LAJUNCOMME Jacques (Côte des Basques Surf Club)*
BLANCHET Emmanuelle (Surfing St Gilles Croix de Vie)
BOULANGER Robert (St Leu Surf Club Elio Canestri)
COMBECAVE Carol (M.E.R. Surf Club) *
DEGOUVE Marie-Adeline (Madinina Surf Club)
DOMINGUES Laura (Aviron Bayonnais Surf Club)
DUVIGNAU Xavier (Lou Surfou Seignosse Surf Club) *
EL HOULALI Hassan (Surf Insertion)
ESNAOLA Marie (Big Surf)
FOSSE Mélanie (Leu Tropical Surf Team)
FOSSECAVE Pascale (Artha Surf Club)
FROIDEFOND Isabelle (Waiteuteu Messanges Surf Club) *
GHALI Nadia (Association of Catalan Bodyboarders and Surfers) *
IRAZU Eliane (Hendaye Bidasoa Surf Club)
LAFON Isabelle (Medoc Waterman Club)
LEALI Michel (Lou Martegue Surf Club)
MOUATE Elodie (West Surf Association) ORTIZ Laurent (BASCS) *
PINAUD Yannick (La Cigale Surf Club)
RONDI Laurent (Lacanau Surf Club) *
TIRILLY Didier (ESB Surf Club) *
VILLEROT Aurelie (Urkirola Surf Club: Doctor) *
Elected by single-member ballot, April 2024
ABIVEN Pierre, 29 Hood Surf Club, judges’ representative
CABANNE Maxime, Aviron Bayonnais Surf Club, representing high-level athletes
PIERRE Ludovic, Oléron Surf Club, trainer representative
ROUILLARD Céline, National Handi Surf Association, representing high-level athletes
SAINT-GEOURS Jean-Marc, National Surf Health Association, representative of the National Associations *
SANTIN Teddy, Ted Surf School, representative of certified schools *
Jacques Lajuncomme, re-elected president
“I am obviously very happy with the result of the elections which offers me a second mandate and will allow me to continue my work in the service of the Federation and its affiliated structures. I sincerely thank the clubs who voted for the “Succeed Together” list. Their support commits the elected Steering Committee to this new exercise.
I would also like to congratulate and thank the 13 members of the outgoing Steering Committee, with whom I enjoyed working and carrying out concrete actions over the past four years. The results, largely positive at all levels, are theirs.
I am delighted today to find three quarters of them in the new elected Steering Committee. I know their qualities and their involvement.
Obviously, I am looking forward to working with the 17 new members. Some, elected before 2020, return to the federation and their experience is an asset. A large majority will discover it from the inside, their know-how and their dynamism will allow us to consolidate our actions and launch new projects by 2028.
The new Steering Committee now includes as many women as men. Having 14 women on our list goes well beyond the number, since they are all strongly involved in associative life and for several of them recognized leaders. Diversity was one of the challenges of the federal policy that we pursued. It remains so for the Olympiad which opens.
The new Steering Committee is made up of people from different backgrounds, they come from all over the Atlantic coast, from the Mediterranean, from overseas. They symbolize the richness of French surfing with practitioners of different disciplines. They will all allow us to listen, consult and represent our 184 clubs.
The new Steering Committee is also inclusive with four elected officials with disabilities joining us. Which is, for those who know me, a great joy. He also made the protection of the seas and oceans a major focus for the Federation to be fully eco-responsible, another subject on which I am personally sensitive.
Finally, the new Steering Committee will be just as ambitious as the previous one with the representation of France internationally and the consolidation of the results of our French teams. The major objective being to perform at the 2028 Olympic Games.
All 28 of us will meet next January to designate each person’s functions and get to work together with enthusiasm.”
Jacques Lajuncomme in brief
The 2024-2028 project
The mandate which is ending has profoundly modified the governance of the federation following the legal obligations imposed by the law of March 2, 2022, aimed at democratizing sport in France: developing the practice of sport for the greatest number, renovating governance sports federations and ensure a virtuous economic model for the sector.
The program of the elected Steering Committee is to have a responsible, united, transparent Federation. After having carried out numerous actions on the societal level, disability and diversity in particular, the Federation wishes to go further from 2024 to 2028. One of the objectives of the Olympiad is to increase the number of licensed women from 35 to 40% and to prepare the parity planned for 2028 by the Law of March 2022, for decentralized bodies. With regard to inclusion and in order to meet the recruitment needs of clubs and decentralized bodies, the Federation has established a rapprochement with France Travail to study the feasibility of deploying the “Engaged Clubs” system aimed at the return to employment of people far from it.
The results obtained by the French teams in the Olympiad which is ending were excellent, culminating in the gold medal for Kauli Vaast and the bronze medal for Johanne Defay at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The entire political, sporting, economic and media class warmly congratulated the athletes and the federation for having represented France with such success. The previous mandate is not limited to these two Olympic medals, the 7 team and individual world champion titles in para surfing, shortboard, longboard, SUP, bodyboard, bodysurf, demonstrate the competitiveness of the French teams and the athletes who make them up.
France has won 20 world titles from 2021 to 2024. It will have to maintain its rank in the years to come and the Federation will support all disciplines. The key objective of the federation for the next four years is to qualify a complete team and win two new medals at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. Jérémy Florès has been appointed manager of the French shortboard teams with the creation of a dedicated staff. An advanced base at the competition site in California will allow training for the France Olympique collective.
These four years have been rich in reforms and innovations. These resulted in an increase in licenses of 25% between 2020 and 2024, a more coherent training offer, labeling policies closer to clubs, schools, municipalities, the implementation of a French-speaking policy towards the international, a circuit of federal sports competitions on all sports disciplines, the creation of new regional leagues notably through non-coastal territories and actions undertaken towards the environment and diversity. All of these actions were carried out within a strict, fully controlled budgetary framework.
The Federation is also committed to this mandate for the protection of the seas and oceans. The partnership with the ECOLOGIC association, which provides a solution for the treatment and recycling of “sliding and surfing equipment” waste, will be activated from the beginning of 2025. Strengthening links with institutions closest to clubs (cities) and the partnership agreement with the National Association of Coastal Elected Officials will enable the creation of the Eco Surf Foundation for the protection of the seas and oceans. In conjunction with the Canary Islands Surfing Federation, an initiative is being taken to create the wave conservatory. Their protection and development as natural sports facilities is a key issue for the future of our sport. The Federation will also be present during World Clean up Day, during the global day to clean up the planet, with a mobilization of federal actors around the theme of abandoned waste.
It is therefore towards an ambitious, united, efficient project, as close as possible to the clubs, that the elected Steering Committee wants to turn to for the 2025-2028 mandate. It is structured around four main axes broken down into actions:
Axis 1: The club at the Center of the Federal Project with an enriched training offer in order to support the professionalization of educators,
Axis 2: Social performance: an inclusive and united federation, an eco-responsible federation,
Axis 3: Reformed governance: listen, consult, represent,
Axis 4: The athlete with ambitious objectives for the 2028 Olympics but also a consolidation of France’s place internationally through the creation of pathways to high performance for the different disciplines.
