Souad Soulimani has been a member of the Sport Business Observatory since 2016. Founder of MediaSpoliS specializing in media education and the production of content dedicated to female leadership, she is also president of Radio Déclic, which gives voice to the inhabitants of working-class neighborhoods on major societal issues. The Sport Business Observatory is the Think Tank of the In&Sport firm whose vocation is to provide analyzes and deciphering on the evolution of sport, both in its economic and social dimension.
We knew the city of Saint-Germain-en-Laye as the cradle of the Paris SG football club, but it was a completely different influence that we discovered on Thursday, April 28.
That of an Olympic city open to the world and ready to meet all sporting, economic and societal challenges.
This is the message that the Mayor immediately addressed to the journalists who had come in large numbers to attend this historic moment with the signing of an agreement between Team Great Britain and the city, labeled Terre de Jeux, which then became an Olympic Preparation Centre.
This welcome is first of all an enhancement of the territory and its facilities but also and above all a message sent to the inhabitants: “
Sport must be a way of life fully integrated into habits.
This signature is important not for notoriety but for the values that we carry and that we wish to transmit in a city where education is at the heart of the concerns with the asserted desire that each schoolchild has access to a sporting practice that allows him to 'combining pleasure, well-being and self-transcendence
'.
Testimony and Legacy
These words resonate a few months before the opening of the JOP and the Olympic vice-champion (Barcelona 1992) Jean-Philippe Gatien representing the COJO confirms, he who knows how much Sport can change trajectories and destinies: "
What will happen here and which will come to life throughout the coming months makes sense and will impact the daily lives of thousands of young people who will be able to identify with athletes and realize that you can achieve your dreams.
Sport at school and the well-being of the younger generations are clearly a heritage that we must ensure and claim.
To have Team Great Britain is to allow the inhabitants to experience the JOP differently by writing beautiful memories.
I who was an athlete,
Brigitte Henriques and Team GB MediaSpoliS, Timothée Trillat
True headquarters of Team GB by 2024, it is in a privileged living environment with sports equipment and quality reception services that the city will host the training sessions of British athletes for almost all the disciplines in which they hope to qualify.
Currently, athletes from field hockey, football, athletics, rugby 7s and weightlifting will come to train in the immediate lead up to the Games.
Each equipment visited and presented to the press for the occasion will allow them to prepare in optimal conditions with the Georges-Lefèvre stadium: a 12-hectare multi-sports complex, located in the heart of the Saint-Germain forest, opposite the Camp des Lodges, this omnisports complex will be the place of
training of British Olympians and will benefit from some improvements: 1.4 million euros for the athletics stadium.
There will also be the swimming pool
The Dome
” which will host the synchronized swimming team, the city gymnasiums for the various “
indoor
” practices.
Finally, the Poissy/Saint-Germain-en-Laye hospital will welcome athletes and staff for sports medicine and medical imaging needs.
Performance and belonging
It is a choice that Sir Hugh Robertson, President of the British Olympic Committee, is delighted with, explaining that “
Team GB needs a preparation camp of excellence to achieve its high sporting objectives.
Saint-Germain-en-Laye offered us high quality facilities and we felt we were in a truly international city where our intense sports stays will be very pleasant to experience and share
”.
And precisely, the CNOSF represented by its President, Brigitte Henriques intends to make these Olympic and Paralympic Games, the planetary event of sharing and transmission: “
It's a city where sport has its place and with the infrastructures visited, we realize that everyone will be able to benefit from the dynamics and that's it, we're there.
Local authorities are beginning to take over JOPs and involve the entire population.
It is this beautiful heritage that we want to continue to promote in order to work more in depth on sport for all, health sport and what we are going to leave to the younger generations.
The Olympic Games are a unique platform that brings together and engages all generations to erase inequalities and breathe new life that leaves no one on the side of the road.
We are mobilized to meet all the challenges by winning medals yes, but above all by being part of a culture of heritage and transmission
”.
Île-de-France, a region between history and memory
This planetary route is above all Ile-de-France for the one who will conclude our exchanges, Evelyne Ciriegi, President of the Regional Olympic Sports Committee of Île-de-France, also President of the Regional Sports Conference insists: “
The sports movement is rich in passionate women and men who transmit essential values such as respect, friendship, excellence and a sense of commitment, as President Henriques so often reminds us.
Our leagues and regional committees welcome practitioners throughout the year and work to make Paris 2024 a global showcase of the regional wealth of the Ile-de-France region.
Seeing the tremendous work accomplished by the Saint-Germain-en-Laye teams confirms that the Île-de-France Region will clearly be there for the JOP with sport for all, at all ages of life and full memories. the eyes for all those who will participate from near or far in the most watched sporting event on the planet
".
And speaking of memories, to close the day, Mayor Arnaud Péricard will express all his pride and barely veiled emotion at being on Olympic time: "
1924/2024 will mark the 100th anniversary of the silver medal won by my grandfather in tennis
”.
A sporting grandpa who can be proud from up there to see the values of Olympism pass through time and the performances become timeless memories that unite all generations.
And for a long time yet.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S7UVDTX7DREC7DXVCZN6MEKGBY.jpg)
