Olympic Solidarity is a program set up by the IOC. This system, unique in France, is piloted by the Regional Center for Youth and Sport, the CRJS, in the town of Petit-Couronne near Rouen, in the Normandy region. Its objective is to offer a framework and infrastructures to foreign athletes. In total, 12 boxers, swimmers, sprinters and judokas, all scholarship holders from Niger, Congo, the Central African Republic, Guinea Conakry and Guinea-Bissau are preparing to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games. where they will represent their home country.
Between two training sessions, Natacha Ngoye Akamabi, Congolese sprinter, takes the opportunity to pass on her passion to the youngest. She likes to play this role of big sister and she is on fire: ” Go, quickly, go even further, that’s good! she shouts to the young shooters of the Sottevillais 76 stadium during the long jump, and who seem to appreciate her presence. ” It’s cool to be coached by an international athlete “. This is the second time that this medalist of the Games of La Francophonie has obtained a scholarship from the International Olympic Committee, the IOC, as part of this Olympic Solidarity program. At his side, the Guinean, Aïssata Deen Conté, 21, specialist in the 60m, 100m and 200m, appreciates the infrastructures: “ at home, there is no athletics track, we run on clay, here, it’s different, we have everything to progress, a club, equipment and trainers “.
” I’m a bit like their father “, Proudly says their coach Amadou Mbaye, who experienced the same difficulties with remoteness and climate change when he arrived in France. This former African 100m champion will prepare these athletes for new training methods according to their level.
The Regional Youth and Sports Center welcomes these African athletes
These Olympic solidarity scholarship holders benefit from a residence permit: “talent passport”. An essential sesame which will allow them to go back and forth between their places of competition, in particular on the African continent and across France.
At the Regional Youth and Sports Centre, the portraits of the twelve new SO residents of Olympic Solidarity are already enthroned at the entrance. This is a boarding school for budding future champions that combines sport and studies from sixth grade.
On the eve of the Olympic Games, these 113 middle school and high school students are happy to share their daily life with these big fellows who do not go unnoticed, especially in the refectory.
As the tour begins, a sprinter and a judoka from Guinea-Bissau burst in. Christophe Cornilleau, the centre’s director, looks after this large family: ” one of the first emergencies was the purchase of a bathing suit and goggles… But also all the equipment for practicing their sport with the latest arrivals “.
Being away from family
Salima Ahmadou Youssoufou, 19, from Niger, is one of the youngest members of this Olympic Solidarity system. She has been living away from her parents for six months to fulfill her dream and get to participate in the Olympic Games.
A sacrifice all the more important that this device can stop at any time. And indeed, these athletes expatriated for more than a year are not sure of being qualified for Paris 2024.
► To read also: Paris 2024: the presence of Russian and Belarusian athletes in question