Latest news with #FrenchOlympicCommittee
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
French Olympic Committee president won't seek new term after losing IOC election
PARIS (AP) — David Lappartient, the head of the French Olympic Committee, won't seek a new term later this year after losing to Kirsty Coventry in the race for president of the International Olympic Committee. Coventry became the first woman and first African to get the powerful position after beating out six other candidates on Thursday. Lappartient, who presides over cycling's governing body UCI, picked up just four of 97 votes. He was elected to the helm of the French Olympic committee (CNOSF) in June 2023 and was in charge when Paris successfully hosted the Summer Games and Paralympics last year. Under his tutelage, France was also given the hosting rights for the 2030 Winter Olympics. Lappartient has been a fast-rising and busy IOC member since joining the international body just three years ago. He already oversaw the preparation of a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia for creating and staging the new video gaming Esport Olympics. It will debut in 2027. Lappartient said on Friday in a letter to the directors and presidents of the French Olympic Committee's member federations that he was proud of his achievements, but that he wants to stick to his commitment to a two-year tenure. Lappartient, who is eligible to seek a third term as UCI president from 2025-29, said it's difficult to combine that role with other responsibilities. 'While it has been possible to combine these commitments over these two years at the cost of a very substantial personal investment, I do not believe that it is desirable, apart from the exceptional circumstances of the last two years," he said. Lappartient, who has been president of the UCI since 2017, was elected president of France's Olympic Committee as a replacement for Brigitte Henriques after she resigned unexpectedly. The next election will be held in June. ___ AP Olympics at
Associated Press
21-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
French Olympic Committee president won't seek new term after losing IOC election
PARIS (AP) — David Lappartient, the head of the French Olympic Committee, won't seek a new term later this year after losing to Kirsty Coventry in the race for president of the International Olympic Committee. Coventry became the first woman and first African to get the powerful position after beating out six other candidates on Thursday. Lappartient, who presides over cycling's governing body UCI, picked up just four of 97 votes. He was elected to the helm of the French Olympic committee (CNOSF) in June 2023 and was in charge when Paris successfully hosted the Summer Games and Paralympics last year. Under his tutelage, France was also given the hosting rights for the 2030 Winter Olympics. Lappartient has been a fast-rising and busy IOC member since joining the international body just three years ago. He already oversaw the preparation of a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia for creating and staging the new video gaming Esport Olympics. It will debut in 2027. Lappartient said on Friday in a letter to the directors and presidents of the French Olympic Committee's member federations that he was proud of his achievements, but that he wants to stick to his commitment to a two-year tenure. Lappartient, who is eligible to seek a third term as UCI president from 2025-29, said it's difficult to combine that role with other responsibilities. 'While it has been possible to combine these commitments over these two years at the cost of a very substantial personal investment, I do not believe that it is desirable, apart from the exceptional circumstances of the last two years,' he said. Lappartient, who has been president of the UCI since 2017, was elected president of France's Olympic Committee as a replacement for Brigitte Henriques after she resigned unexpectedly. The next election will be held in June.
Reuters
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Lappartient prepared to tell Trump IOC's autonomy must be respected
PARIS, March 13 (Reuters) - International Olympic Committee presidential candidate David Lappartient is prepared to sit down with Donald Trump in the Oval Office and tell the U.S. president the IOC's autonomy must be respected. The Frenchman is president of the International Cycling Union (UCI) and French Olympic Committee while also being an IOC member and president of the organisation's Esports commission. Lappartient, who is running to replace outgoing IOC chief Thomas Bach, believes his multiple roles are an advantage in next Thursday's vote although his critics have said he is spreading himself too thinly. A political animal who has held multiple local representative mandates, the 51-year-old is no stranger to electoral jousting. In 2017, he beat incumbent and odds-on favourite Brian Cookson to become UCI president, swinging the votes in the final stretch. The IOC job is a huge task, which requires soft power and diplomacy amid a hot debate on the participation of transgender athletes after Trump issued an order to exclude transgender girls and women from female sport. The order has triggered what is likely to be a long, complex clash with global sports authorities as the U.S. counts down to the 2028 LA Olympics. Bach, however, said last week that Trump had been a long-time supporter and promoter of the LA Games, and that the IOC was confident of his continued support. IOC AUTONOMY "So I imagined the new president of the IOC, whoever he is, and I pictured myself in that position in the Oval Office, in a discussion with President Trump, and we have seen that sometimes those discussions don't go according to plan," Lappartient told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. "When a country hosts the Games, it undertakes to respect the Olympic Charter, which sets out a number of principles, including that of autonomy. "The message I would like to pass on (to Trump) is that our autonomy must be respected. But our decisions must not be taken from an ideological angle either." Lappartient shares fellow candidate Sebastian Coe's view that the inclusion of transgender athletes should not prevail over fairness, but he said the decision should be made by the IOC rather than letting the international federations (IFs) rule on the matter as far as the Olympics are concerned. "The idea is that the matter is settled before 2028," he said. Lappartient is one of seven candidates to succeed Bach, four of which are international federation presidents. Although no IF president has ever held the position, Lappartient is confident his versatility could be a deciding factor in the election. SOFT POWER "International Federations can sometimes be powerful and can also generate a certain amount of fear. But I have a second hat, which is that I am also president of the National Olympic Committee," the 51-year-old said. "And all the (IOC) presidents, whether President Bach or President (Jacques) Rogge before him, were president of the German and Belgian NOCs (respectively). "So my case is also that of an NOC president being a candidate. I'm also familiar with this important aspect of Olympism. I'd say that it's an advantage to be president of an NOC and president of an International Federation at the same time." Lappartient, who vows to bring the Olympics to Africa for the first time having handed this year's cycling world championships to Rwanda, also hopes Russian and Belarusian athletes can make a full return to the Games once there is a peace treaty in the war with Ukraine. "A country is not destined to be suspended indefinitely by the IOC. So yes, we will naturally have to raise this issue with the Russian NOC after the peace treaty to see how we can effectively get out of this situation," he explained. Soft power will be key, as always with the IOC, the most influential sporting organisation in the world. "You can't lead a revolution with IOC, it has to be about evolution," Lappartient said. In next Thursday's election in Greece, he will be pitched against IOC vice-president Juan Antonio Samaranch, World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe, multiple Olympic swimming champion Kirsty Coventry, who is Zimbabwe's sports minister, and Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan. International Gymnastics Federation head Morinari Watanabe and Olympic newcomer and multimillionaire Johan Eliasch, who heads the International Ski Federation, complete the list of candidates.
Fox News
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
French bill would ban headscarves in sport; Amnesty International says it's discriminatory
Amnesty International is urging French lawmakers to reject a bill this week that would ban headscarves in all sporting competitions. The bill is backed by right-wing senators and will be debated from Tuesday in the upper house of the French parliament. Its aim is to ban all "ostensibly religious" clothing and symbols during competitions. Amnesty International says the move would be discriminatory. The vote is likely to refuel the lingering debate on secularism — still volatile more than a century after the 1905 law on separation of church and state that established it as a principle of the French Republic. Until now, sporting federations have been free to decide whether or not to allow headscarves, with two of the country's most powerful sports, soccer and rugby, opting to ban them. The bill is at an early stage and this week's vote marks the beginning of a long legislative process with an uncertain outcome. Even if senators vote in favor, the bill's future will remain unclear since the lower house has the final say. To pass, the bill would need a coalition of forces that don't usually collaborate in the deeply divided lower house. Amnesty International's calls come after French sprinter Sounkamba Sylla said last summer she was barred from the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics because she wears a hijab. She was eventually allowed to take part, wearing a cap to cover her hair. France enforces a strict principle of "laïcité," loosely translated as "secularism." At the Games, the president of the French Olympic Committee said its Olympians were bound by the secular principles that apply to public sector workers in the country, which include a ban on hijabs and other religious signs. "At the Paris Olympics, France's ban on French women athletes who wear headscarves from competing at the Games drew international outrage," said Anna Błuś, an Amnesty International researcher on gender justice. "Just six months on, French authorities are not only doubling down on the discriminatory hijab ban but are attempting to extend it to all sports." Experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council have previously criticized the decision by the French soccer and basketball federations to exclude players wearing the hijab, and the French government's decision to prevent its athletes wearing headscarves from representing the country at the Paris Games. Amnesty International said the bill in reality targets Muslim women and girls by excluding them from sporting competitions if they wear a headscarf or other religious clothing. "Laïcité...which is theoretically embedded in the French constitution to protect everyone's religious freedom, has often been used as a pretext to block Muslim women's access to public spaces in France," Amnesty International said. "Over several years, the French authorities have enacted laws and policies to regulate Muslim women's and girls' clothing, in discriminatory ways. Sport federations have followed suit, imposing hijab bans in several sports." Two years ago, France's highest administrative court said the country's soccer federation was entitled to ban headscarves in competitions even though the measure can limit freedom of expression. Wielding the principle of religious neutrality enshrined in the constitution, the country's soccer federation also does not make things easy for international players who want to refrain from drinking or eating from dawn to sunset during Ramadan, an Islamic holy month. Supporters of the bill cite growing attacks on secularism in sport, arguing that its core values are based on a principle of universality. To protect sports grounds from any non-sporting confrontation, they say, a principle of neutrality needs to be implemented to ensure that no political, religious or racial demonstration or propaganda can be promoted. The bill also states that using part of a sports facility as a place of worship would be a misuse of its purpose, and bans the wearing of religious clothing, such as the burkini, in public swimming pools. "By placing the wearing of a headscarf on the spectrum of "attacks on secularism," which range from "permissiveness" to "terrorism," this legislation, if passed, would fuel racism and reinforce the growing hostile environment facing Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim in France," Amnesty International said.
Reuters
18-02-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Former freestyle ski champion Grospiron to head 2030 organising committee
PARIS, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Former freestyle skiing Olympic champion Edgar Grospiron was named president of the 2030 Winter Games organising committee, the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) said on Tuesday. The 55-year-old Grospiron, a gold medallist at the Albertville Olympics in 1992, was appointed after biathlon great Martin Fourcade pulled out of the race citing 'disagreements' with local authorities earlier this month. The 2030 Winter Games will be held in Nice and the French Alps from February 1-17.
