French Olympic Committee in turmoil year ahead of Games

Paris: Sports activities Minister Amelie Oudea Castera on Thursday known as on the French Nationwide Olympic Committee (CNOSF) to rally collectively after their president Brigitte Henriques give up her put up solely 14 months earlier than Paris hosts the Olympic Video games.

Henriques’ dramatic resignation on the committee’s common meeting comes after a year-and-a-half of inside squabbling and a really public disagreement along with her predecessor Denis Masseglia.

The CNOSF common secretary Astrid Guyart will act in a caretaker position until a brand new president is elected “within the subsequent three months”, the physique mentioned in a press release.

“There have been no winners at present,” Oudea-Castera informed AFP.

She added, nonetheless, there could possibly be “a victory, that of ethics and democracy.”

The resignation of Henriques — a former vice-president of the French Soccer Federation — is simply the newest drama to have an effect on French sports activities previously yr.

A number of federations — soccer, rugby, gymnastics and tennis — have develop into embroiled in scandals.

There have been two excessive profile resignations consequently — soccer’s octogenarian president Noel Le Graet went in February following accusations of sexual and psychological harassment.

Former sports activities minister and French rugby coach Bernard Laporte additionally give up his position as president of the French Rugby Federation in January after being convicted of corruption — months away from France internet hosting the boys’s Rugby World Cup.