Chis is a “special regime” reserved for all the host countries of the Olympic Games: as the event approaches, and sometimes long before, everything that happens there is scrutinized by the whole world. In this context, the crisis that has shaken the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) in recent months was really messy.
Thursday, May 25, just over 400 days before the opening of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) in Paris, the backlash was brutal for its president, Brigitte Henriques. She presented her resignation, the only way to stop the image of the French sports movement from deteriorating, inside and outside France.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which generally takes care not to intervene in the internal affairs of national committees, has even asked the CNOSF to “to focus” now on Paris 2024, by calling “to everyone’s responsibility so that internal conflicts (…) cease ».
The crisis that pushed Mme Henriques initially became over time a complex web of accusations – mixing abuse of social good, psychological violence, defamation, abusive expenses or expense reports – between the president of the CNOSF, her predecessor, Denis Masseglia, and her former secretary General, Didier Seminet. Two preliminary investigations have been opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office.
“Ethical leap”
Beyond the reasons for the conflict within the CNOSF, it is the question of the governance of sport in France that arises again. Mme Henriques is the third leading representative of the tricolor authorities to be pushed towards the exit in 2023, after the resignations of Bernard Laporte from the French Rugby Federation, on January 27, and that of Noël Le Graët from the French Football Federation, February 28.
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, the Minister of Sports and JOP, has worked to try to resolve these repeated crises. Thursday, she called “an ethical and democratic leap from the CNOSF”. But the departure of those who have failed in their mission, sometimes forgetting the ethical rules that apply to the rest of society, is only a first step.
France is in dire need of mechanisms to improve the functioning of its sports bodies in the long term. The law of March 2, 2022 aimed at its democratization includes a section on the renewal of the governance framework of the federations, which has not yet produced any visible effects.
Essential missions
A national committee to strengthen ethics and democratic life in sport was set up on March 29 at the initiative of Mme Oudea-Castera. It brings together recognized personalities, including former sports minister Marie-George Buffet and ex-athlete Stéphane Diagana. It is to be hoped that the ideas that will emerge will allow the sports movement to reconnect with the values of exemplarity that sport is supposed to convey.
As for the CNOSF, it is now up to Astrid Guyart, the body’s general secretary, then to whoever will succeed Mme Henriquès – who will be appointed in the three months following June 29 – to do everything to ensure that his essential missions are carried out correctly.
The Committee must in particular structure the future tricolor delegation in order to place the athletes in the best conditions during the Games in 2024. The CNOSF is also responsible for setting up the Club France, at the Parc de La Vilette, in Paris, which announces as an important crossroads of the Olympics.
“We should be living the four hundred best days of our lives”, launched Astrid Guyart after the resignation of the boss of the CNOSF in a deleterious atmosphere. It may not be too late…
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