“An act of authority.
This is the summary made by a specialist in sports bodies, after the exclusion from the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) of the Secretary General, Didier Seminet, at the request of President Brigitte Henriques.
A meeting of the board of directors had been hastily called (without taking into account the usual 15-day period) with, on the agenda, “the situation of the general secretary.
“Two weeks ago, it was the executive office that launched the process, at the request of Brigitte Henriques.
That day, 15 of the 18 people present (Didier Seminet had been banned from voting, asked the president of the CNOSF refused to explain the reasons) had voted in favor of a procedure for dismissal of the secretary general.
The president had asked the members of the office to sign a confidentiality clause, no doubt hoping that the affair would not be publicized before the meeting on Monday, September 12.
During the debates, Brigitte Henriques also considered “unacceptable the outpouring in the media.
She did not wish to detail the reproaches against her now ex-Secretary General.
“She mentioned threats and stressed that he was not fulfilling his missions”, points out an administrator.
If a dozen members of the Board tried to advance the path of mediation and conciliation, Brigitte Henriques - believing that for that "we should have come to see her several months ago" - preferred the vote.
28 board members chose eviction, 17 spoke against it.
The crisis is now open within the institution, several administrators who had brought Brigitte Henriques to the presidency in 2021, not having followed him in his choice.
A new Secretary General will be appointed at the next CA.
It could be Marie-Françoise Potereau, member of the French cycling federation, but elected to the CNOSF under the mandate of the French field hockey federation.
