Since the resignation of Brigitte Henriques, the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) has been agitating behind the scenes to try to bring out a personality to replace her in nearly three weeks. The name of UCI President David Lappartient comes up often but other names are also circulating.
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The new president of the CNOSF will be known on June 29 at the end of the board of directors, date of the effective resignation of the former vice-president of the FFF, who announced her departure two weeks ago. Until then, "phone calls will rain, and the strategy game will not stop," a member of the committee told AFP. The 48 members of the board of directors, split in two for nearly a year and a half because of the conflict between Brigitte Henriques and her predecessor Denis Masseglia, who had gathered around him a whole opposition, will have to agree. The new president of an institution still groggy by a crisis worthy of a bad soap opera of more than a year and a half will come out of this conclave.
"It's a house that is sometimes complicated to understand"
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You will see that they will be able to disagree. It is a house sometimes complicated to understand, "breathed a source close to the circles of power on the day of the resignation of its former president. The president of the UCI, French member of the IOC and ex officio member of the CNOSF board David Lappartient, had also signaled that day. As soon as the resignation of the president was announced, he had assured the media in the corridors of the house of sport to "be ready" to stand as a candidate if "a consensus" emerged around his name. "Frankly that would be nice. It is solid, if it goes it is because it has the approval of the IOC, it will reassure everyone, "analyzes an executive of the sports movement.
Almost a year before the Olympics (July 26 - August 11, 2024), and after 18 months of an endless crisis, the stature of the providential man from the seraglio has seduced some of the members of the CNOSF. But only part of it. "Except that David is not unanimous," summarizes one of its members. The leader from cycling knows it, his ambition, his progression, do not necessarily please everyone. "He has already said that he would not give up his mandate on the departmental council (of Morbihan, of which he is president, editor's note). But how will he find the time, between his political obligations, the IOC, to take care of a house still traumatized, with the deadline of the Olympics approaching at high speed?"
The CNOSF ethics commission was seized by the secretary general Astrid Guyart to try to see clearly in this period and set a precise framework for the next election. The executive board scheduled for June 13 should therefore set the deadline for candidacy and certainly decide on the legal possibility of David Lappartient to stand as a candidate since he was not elected by the General Assembly of the CNOSF, but sits on the Board as an IOC member. "It is especially that not much in the statutes exists and that the commission must clarify the process," says a source close to the management.
Lappartient will not be alone, no doubt
So far, therefore, no candidate is officially running. The name of Cédric Gosse, the 53-year-old president of the triathlon federation newly elected to the board, has however recently appeared. "He is young, ambitious, and his rather smooth profile would be ideal for the Ministry of Sports," whispers a source close to the CNOSF. He has so far remained silent about his intentions. Another name is also emerging, that of former presidential candidate Emmanuelle Bonnet-Oulaldj. Co-president of the Sports and Gymnastics Federation of Work (FSGT), a non-Olympic federation, she surprised by achieving a very good score, 3rd with more than 16% of the votes. "Frankly she also has a card to play. It is not marked in any camp, it is serious, and it marked the spirits during the last campaign, "analyzes a president of federation. We will have to wait a little longer to know the contenders for a coveted chair.