This puts the organizers of the Miss France competition in an embarrassment: all the candidates got this question wrong on the general knowledge test. And the reason is even more embarrassing…
The election of the next Miss France takes place this Saturday, December 14, 2024, at Futuroscope in Poitiers. And traditions were respected once again this year with a prestigious evening, preceded by a long preparation and in particular a trip for the candidates to Ivory Coast and a general knowledge test, taken on site in November.
After the departure of Sylvie Tellier, it was Cindy Fabre, elected Miss France in 2005, who took charge of the prestigious competition. It was she, as well as Frédéric Gilbert, appointed to the general management of the company, who created the new quiz which was submitted to the 30 contenders, notes Le Figaro TVwith a slightly revisited formula and an objective: to try to raise the level a little.
In 2023, the average score on the Miss France general culture test was historically low, with the candidates having correctly answered barely half of the 60 questions asked. The best Miss had only achieved a score of 42.5 out of 60…
It was therefore necessary to review the copy. This year, there were fewer multiple choice questions in the test. For the current affairs, logic and mathematics categories, the 30 contenders had free rein to try to find the most relevant answers. And for math and logic, they only had 30 seconds to answer each question.
This year, the test also included history and current affairs questions, particularly on the Olympic Games which took place in Paris this summer. And one of the latter, a multiple choice question in fact, posed a serious problem for the participants. It focused on Marie-José Pérec, who lit the Olympic cauldron on the evening of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Candidates for Miss France had to indicate how the athlete had marked Olympic history, with four propositions:
- She has held the Olympic record in the women’s 400 meters since 1996.
- She is the first woman to become Olympic champion in the 400 meters.
- She was the youngest medalist in Olympic history.
- She is the only French female athlete to be a triple Olympic champion.
It happens that a question is difficult and has a very low average. But for no contender for the crown to find the answer is almost unprecedented and statistically very unlikely, or even impossible in the case of a multiple choice question. Yet this is what happened. Enough to annoy the organization.
The poor Misses unfortunately have nothing to do with it… since none of these answers are correct! The last one had been designated as fair by the quiz designers. However, if Marie-José Pérec was indeed the only athlete to obtain three titles at the Olympic Games (one in 1992 in Barcelona over 400 meters then two in 1996 in Atlanta over 200 and 400 meters), it only lasted for a while . Cyclist Félicia Ballanger also won three Olympic speed titles in 1996 in Atlanta then in 2000 in Sydney in addition to a victory in the 500 meters in Australia.