UCI President David Lappartient was elected President of the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) on Thursday, inheriting, one year from the Paris Games, a post vacant since the resignation of Brigitte Henriques on May 25, at the start of a new era for this house traumatized by a crisis of more than a year and a half.
Published on: 06/29/2023 – 16:48Modified on: 06/29/2023 – 17:26
The mayor of Sarzeau (Morbihan), member of the IOC, was elected with 80% of the votes by the board of directors against Emmanuelle Bonnet-Oulaldj, the co-president of the Sports and Gymnastics Federation of Labor (FSGT).
David Lappartient obtained 36 votes against 8 for his rival, three directors having not taken part in the vote and one having abstained.
The mandate of the new president will have to be confirmed by a vote of a general assembly scheduled for September 13.
The election of this heavyweight of French sports institutions opens a new era for the CNOSF which went through the most serious crisis in its history for almost a year and a half, until the surprise resignation of Brigitte Henriques on May 25.
The ex-president had thrown in the towel after months of internal struggles and a clan war which had plunged this institution into an “untenable” situation, according to a source close to the mysteries of sport.
“Gathering”
David Lappartient, who promised in his program to work for “gathering” and “unity”, undertook to exercise this function on a voluntary basis and promised to “reduce the sails in a significant way” as for his different mandates, ensuring in particular that he would resign in the event of his election as president of the Morbihan Regional National Park (PNR).
The new boss of the French Olympic movement, also president of the departmental council of Morbihan, exercises around ten sports and elective mandates. During the campaign, he was scratched by the daily Le Monde, which notably mentioned controversial links with the Russian-Turkmen oligarch Igor Makarov, and reported a report from Anticor targeting him.
This report made to the prosecutor concerns contracts signed by the Regional National Park with a company whose manager is the ex-husband of its ex-director. “I was unaware of this family link”, defended David Lappartient in an email sent to members of the CNOSF of which AFP was aware, acknowledging “an error”.
“After such a crisis, it’s still an opportunity not to be missed. He’s serious, knows the environment perfectly, knows what he has to do. There’s the Olympics in a year, you don’t have to wasting time,” said a federation president just before the election.
