Despite only one medal at the Tokyo Olympics – silver for Kevin Mayer in the decathlon – the French athletics did not intend to start a revolution. The rather unexpected departure of Florian Rousseau, director of high performance since January 2020, will force the French federation (FFA) to review its plans. The Games barely over, its president André Giraud had nevertheless asked for time, promising in particular that the organization put in place since the appointment of the former cyclist would bear fruit.
Florian Rousseau, who arrived after the bitter failure of the Doha Worlds three months earlier, had already imposed his paw, in particular by re-establishing links with certain high-level athletes. The FFA was the first sports federation to implement the scheme advocated by Claude Onesta, the high performance manager at the National Sports Agency (ANS): a high performance director in charge of high level and a technical director national (DTN), more development-oriented, although the sports code statutorily also gives it a high-level mission.
In recent months, tensions have been numerous between Florian Rousseau and Anne Barrois, acting DTN until September, in particular on this question of the field of intervention. Anne Barrois, whom André Giraud did not wish to keep as DTN, announced her departure from the FFA, finally followed by Florian Rousseau. The latter, who had yet started to think about a new organization chart, made the decision not to renew his mission (he was on contract until August 31) during his vacation.
Name of DTN not known until October
So here is the FFA forced to reorganize. We already know that at the level of the National Sports Agency, it is the former swordsman Eric Srecki who will henceforth be the “high performance expert advisor” of athletics. Annoyed by the flop at the Olympics, Claude Onesta could however go further and ensure the future of the number one sport at the Olympics. The manager of the ANS will necessarily have a say in the succession, now open, of Florian Rousseau.
He also intends to influence the choice of the DTN, although in the end the name is validated by Roxana Maracineanu, the Minister for Sports. Here again, the debates are raging. Four people are now candidates. The preference of the president of the FFA, whose choice matters, goes to Patrick Ravier, ex-DTN of rowing, in particular now inspector general. Claude Onesta would rather see Grégory Saint-Geniès (DTN of water skiing), while Vincent Rognon, not selected by the Judo Federation (which still has no DTN since the rejection by the ministry of Martine Dupond’s candidacy) is interested in the job. Expected at the beginning of September, postponed to mid-September, the choice will not be made before October, the date of the auditions of the applicants has still not been fixed.
