Despite the Olympics in Paris in two years, sport is absent from the debates of the presidential election. A constant for a less divisive theme that has never really been at the heart of political debate in previous presidential elections.
” I know that between Covid and Ukraine, it’s not easy to talk about sport right now. Finally, it may suit the candidates. However, with more sport, there would perhaps be less sale of drugs », Laments a high-level athlete joined by RFI, who has already participated in the Rio Olympics in 2016.
” The place of sport must change »
If the war in Ukraine has monopolized a good number of subjects in France for several days, inevitably stifling political debate, sport seemed in any case not to have found its place, however small, during this presidential election.
And despite the Olympics in Paris in 2024, sport remains the poor relation of politics, a constant for a theme that is not very divisive. In recent years, the themes of the presidential election have often revolved around security or the economy. ” The problem is that if we follow this reasoning, we should not talk about culture, research or justice either because that is not one of the priorities of the French “, was exasperated the communist Marie-George Buffet, former Minister of Sports of Lionel Jospin (PS).
In mid-March, only three candidates responded to the “great oral sport” organized by the French National Olympic Sports Committee (CNOSF). Communist Fabien Roussel, environmentalist Yannick Jadot and socialist Hidalgo presented their sports program, while LR candidate Valérie Pécresse defected the night before. The three candidates present pleaded in favor of the return of a “full exercise” Ministry of Sports, and not attached to the Ministry of National Education as currently, and an increase in the budget dedicated to sport.
” Politicians love big wins and ride it »
” If we want to be positive, the world of sport makes proposals, but the big oral was a fiasco. For a nation that is going to host the Games, this is not a good sign. It would have been necessary to invite the carriers of the sports program of each candidate “, comments for RFI Vincent Chaudel, co-founder of the Observatory of sport business. ” Politicians like big victories and ride on it. I imagine that everyone was delighted with the victory in rugby for the XV of France which obtained the Grand Slam at the Six Nations Tournament adds Vincent Chaudel. ” AT two years of the Olympic Games, the place of sport must change. We have a unique opportunity to make France a sporting nation “, said Brigitte Henriques, president of the CNOSF.
As Paris 2024 is fast approaching, Emmanuel Macron, candidate for his own succession, did not utter the word sport during the presentation of his program in Aubervilliers on March 17, during a press conference in front of 120 journalists. The exercise lasted about four hours. The President of the Republic was however not shy about throwing a spade at the French athletes after the last of the Tokyo Olympics. ” The balance sheet is not quite what we expected “, he had launched on Monday, September 13 in front of the Olympic medalists. The French team indeed remained in Tokyo below its objectives and its standards with 33 medals after the 42 of Rio 2016. We have to do a lot more, because these are our Games, at home, we are expected “, he added while indicating that the State would not fail to support French athletes.
During his first campaign meeting in Poissy, Emmanuel Macron had mentioned the generalization of 30 minutes of physical activity at school for 6-12 year olds at the start of the next school year, a device tested for two years.
330,000 jobs in the sports sector
In the programs of the twelve candidates, however, a few lines appear here and there, with enormous disparities, the candidate LR Valérie Pécresse and the candidate of the Greens Yannick Jadot standing out from the others with more substantial proposals.
Public policy issues in sport have never come to the fore. However, in a recent BVA poll, nearly a third of French people would like sport to be a campaign theme. In France, sport has more than 18 million licensees, according to 2018 figures given by the CNOSF. The Covid-19 crisis has led to a 20% to 30% drop in the number of licensees that clubs are now struggling to win back. The strength of the French sports world is to be able to rely on volunteers. But it is more and more difficult and the health crisis has not helped the situation.
According to the France Sport Expertise economic interest group, which represents companies in the sector, the sports sector in France generates 330,000 jobs, for a turnover of 77.7 billion euros.