If there is one minister who seemed to be immune to any government departure before this reshuffle, it is Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. With less than two hundred days to go before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games (26 July-11 August), "AOC" was assured of retaining her post as Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This is obvious in view of the huge deadline ahead and especially of his action since his appointment on May 20, 2022 in the Borne government. His fine promotion, this Thursday, by recovering the National Education and Youth was less expected... And it confirms its current attractiveness to the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, who has already announced his intention to closely follow the education issue in Matignon.
As for the Ministry of Sports, the former tennis player, who studied at Sciences Po, Essec and ENA (in Emmanuel Macron's Léopold Sédar-Senghor class) after leaving the courts, has indeed succeeded where many former athletes who have become ministers or secretaries of state have failed: to be credible in political matters, to master complicated issues and to know how to communicate in a subject that is ultimately far removed from the sports field.
A turbulent start
Like her beginnings complicated by the controversy that followed the disastrous organization of the final of the Champions League of football at the Stade de France and the inconsistencies (to say the least) of Gérald Darmanin on the subject, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has been able to avoid the majority of the traps set on her path since her appointment. And while Anne Hidalgo doesn't seem to like her much, the sporting world, led by Tony Estanguet and the organisers of Paris 2024, generally praises her action and recognises her knowledge of the issues, her phenomenal capacity for work and her intelligence.
Many also highlighted her courage to see her rise to the front against two heavyweight presidents of major federations, Noël Le Graët for football and Bernard Laporte, who had preceded her in the sofas of the Ministry of Sports, avenue de France in Paris, for rugby. Two presidents, one accused of moral and sexual harassment and the other convicted of corruption, who had to leave their posts, as did Claude Atcher, the former boss of the Rugby World Cup, who was also caught by the patrol. And even if Laporte declared this Thursday in front of the readers of the "Midi Libre" that "in three years, no one will talk about her anymore", Amélie Oudéa Castéra, 45, has come out of this battle much stronger, allowing her to consolidate her authority over French sport.
'A war machine'
It is therefore not surprising to see the former head of the Axa group, Carrefour and the French tennis federation rise to prominence by taking over the strategic ministry of National Education, while ensuring the success of the Paris 2024 Games and Paralympics. And confirms that his former classmate, who is passionate about sports, approves of his work. A simple visit to her office at the Ministry of Sports, where she admits to enjoying chocolates and expressing herself in well-thought-out sentences and at a measured pace, allows us to better understand the power of the "war machine that is Amélie Oudéa-Castéra", according to the expression of a major player in French sport. A power that its detractors do not hesitate to translate into "authoritarianism" and "without qualms"...