flag bearer of the Blues, a coveted job, a controversial procedure – Libération

The new selection criteria effectively excluding many well-known French athletes are not unanimous in the high-level world. 100 days before the opening ceremony, applications are multiplying.

Parade on the Seine brandishing the tricolor banner. Already very prestigious, the function of flag bearer of the French delegation is even more coveted this year for these home Olympics. Hoping to avoid the slightest controversy, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), which oversees the designation process, has tightened its criteria this year, without managing to escape… the controversy, which has fueled the ambient Olympic bashing.

Because for the first time, the four elected officials – two men and two women including the Paralympics – will be nominated by their peers. The voters, namely all the athletes who will make up the French delegation this summer (i.e. between 560 and 565 athletes), will have to choose a single name from a short-list in which only one candidate per discipline can appear.

A process that is not unanimous

Unveiled in mid-March, the new CNOSF rules drastically reduce the contingent of candidates. That was the goal: to renew faces and names. Candidates must have already participated in an Olympiad, which effectively excludes newcomers to the Games, such as Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Dupont or Victor Wembanyama. But they must also have never held this role, like Clarisse Agbégnénou in Japan three years ago or Teddy Riner in 2016. A final criterion of exemplarity requires providing an extract from bulletin number 3 of their criminal record, linked to convictions. to prison for crimes and misdemeanors, as well as a sworn statement of having never been sanctioned disciplinary and/or criminally for any matter relating to doping, gender-based and sexual violence or the manipulation of competitions. This last point de facto ousts Nikola Karabatic, convicted by the courts in a betting affair with his former club Montpellier.

Transparent but shaking the small middle of the high level, the process is not unanimous. “There are the French and the figures who express a certain will and on the other side people are working behind the scenes to impose discriminatory conditions to designate the flag bearers,” raged shortly after on X (formerly Twitter) the six-time world champion and double Olympic judo champion Clarisse Agbégnénou, citing a poll which placed her at the top of the favorites among women.

Who, then, to put on the costume on July 26? A few names come up insistently: the quadruple medalist swimmer Florent Manaudou is offering his candidacy as soon as he can, as is the Olympic vice-champion in discus throwing Mélina Robert-Michon, 44 years old and in the running for her seventh Olympics. “Being a flag bearer means representing all athletes. It’s strong because we often highlight potential medalists while the delegation is athletes from all backgrounds, all ages, super-known disciplines, others less so and that’s what makes the strength of the Olympics », Analyzes the discobole with Libération. Other favorites: Wendie Renard, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, Estelle Mossely, Renaud Lavillenie or Nicolas Batum. While waiting for the end of the Olympic qualifying tournaments and the applications for the supreme job, we will know on Wednesday April 17 when the names of the flag bearers will be announced.