“Ski racing is here,” said the mayor of Val d’Isère, Patrick Martin, on Thursday, expressing his disappointment after his Savoyard resort was excluded from the French Alps project to host the Olympic Games. winter in 2030. “Ski racing, in Val d’Isère, is something that is in our genes, our DNA,” the mayor of Val d’Isère, who organizes this weekend its Critérium de la première neige, traditional French stage of the Alpine Ski World Cup.
Last week, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) created a surprise by announcing that the French Alps’ candidacy was the only one still in the running to host the Olympic Games in 2030, a giant step towards organizing the first Winter Games. in France since those of Albertville in 1992. “We were happy. It is the recognition first of France, then of the Alps and then of Val d’Isère,” declared Patrick Martin.
“I just want to be part of the round”
But it was a cold shower 48 hours later with a “phone call from Laurent Wauquiez (president of the Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes region) at 6 p.m. Friday to tell us that it would be very complicated, that the IOC is asking for a regrouping sites and that as a result Val d’Isère and Isola 2000 had been withdrawn. That’s how I learned it. »
“I was told on Wednesday that the Olympic Games are going to take place in France and that we are entering into a targeted dialogue. For me, a focused dialogue is a conversation. We tell ourselves that we have nine months to discuss and there, we have the impression that the conversation is already over, he lamented. I just want to be part of the round table that discusses the project. Games without Val d’Isère would have less flavor. »
Patrick Martin affirmed that he had written to the Minister of Sports, the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic to highlight the strengths of his station. He will also have the opportunity to discuss it on Saturday with Laurent Wauquiez, who is traveling to Val d’Isère.
