In office since 2020, Nathalie Péchalat was not re-elected as president of the Ice Sports Federation (FFSG). This Saturday, the former European ice dancing champion was beaten by Gwenaëlle Noury, who won 52.8% of the vote. A result that the outgoing immediately deplored, notably regretting the remote control of her competitor by the former president of the FFSG Didier Gailhaguet, forced to resign two years ago for having covered a coach implicated for rape and assault sexual.
“We knew that the election was going to be complicated, one way or the other, reacted Péchalat to RMC Sport, a few moments after the result. I find this humiliating and disrespectful, given the work we have done collectively over the past two years. During her tenure, she had worked in particular to support the “liberation of victims’ speech and the fight against sexual violence”, which was particularly welcomed by the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on the announcement of his defeat.
A petition had been launched
Above all, it is Gailhaguet’s return to business that seems to worry a lot at the FFSG, although it is Noury who officially won the election. “It was he who led the campaign and who made his program, slice Péchalat. I can’t tell you otherwise. Afterwards, what place will he have, in the shadows or on the front of the stage, I don’t know… Even if he is only a ghost, it is an interstellar disgrace for sports of ice. »
In recent days, a petition had been launched to form a “front of refusal” against the former president and “ex-gravedigger” and some presidents would have welcomed the result of the election “in tears”. For his part, Gailhaguet has always defended himself from any return, even though he is ineligible for the presidency due to the limitation of the number of mandates. But he could be appointed to a position within the FFSG. According to Péchalat, there will in any case be no appeal or new vote. “We are in a democracy, I accept the result”, concluded the fallen.
For Noury, “Gailhaguet is a consultant like all the others”
For her part, the new president Gwenaëlle Noury, who did not speak publicly during the campaign and refused interviews, came forward with Patrice Martin, the current president of the French Water Skiing Federation, at her side. , whom she chose as general secretary of the FFSG. “What is important for us is to be able to represent all the clubs and to ensure that the clubs are at the center of this federation,” she explained.
Is Didier Gailhaguet behind his candidacy, as Nathalie Péchalat asserts? “We didn’t leave alone, obviously my natural approach was to consult as many people as possible,” she replies. “Didier Gailhaguet was consulted, I’m not hiding it because, for me, he remains an ice sports enthusiast, he remains someone who knows the workings of this federation”, she explained. “I want to surround myself with competent people who know this federal machine and Didier is one of them. Now, he is a consultant like all the others”, she contented herself with saying, wanting to avoid “controversy”.
