The president of the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) Brigitte Henriques, elected in June 2021, resigned Thursday, May 25 from her post, a coup de theater in full general assembly fourteen months before the 2024 Paris Olympics, in order to end a crisis. internal which has lasted for more than a year and a half, announced the CNOSF.
Internal conflicts and rivalries got the better of the former vice-president of the French Football Federation (FFF), at open war for months with her predecessor Denis Masseglia. ” The secretary general of the body Astrid Guyart will ensure the interim until the election of a new president in the next three months »specifies the press release from the CNOSF.
” The situation was no longer tenable, she made the right choice »reacted a federation president present at the time of the announcement of this resignation during a much-awaited general meeting.
For more than a year and a half, the CNOSF has been going through an unprecedented crisis, between threats of complaints, low blows and revelations of email exchanges in the press…
A climate that has become very heavy
This climate has become even heavier in recent days with the announcement by Denis Masseglia of an upcoming complaint to the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) for breach of trust targeting the term of office of Brigitte Henriques. The former president, before the members of the body, had read a letter detailing his grievances against the president, citing financial irregularities and undue expenses according to him. And he then drew the ultimate weapon, evoking a complaint against X for breach of trust with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) which was to be filed ” in the next few days ».
An intervention which had triggered the ire of Brigitte Henriques, denouncing a “ cabal »and a form of “ harassment ». Masseglia explained to AFP that he could not bear that on April 4, during a press conference at the CNOSF, Brigitte Henriques’ lawyer, Me Arash Derambarsh, threatened to file a complaint against him.
Concern of many players in French sport
The Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, had estimated on France Inter that ” the sports movement » couldn’t ” in no way afford such divisions (…) in front of the whole world »asking that ” this house come back in order ».
” I do not imagine that these problems, which shock the sporting world, will continue beyond the month of May, I am sure that we will find a solution », had she still pleaded on the L’Équipe channel
The eviction in September 2022 of Brigitte Henriques’ former right-hand man, Didier Seminet, triggered a deep crisis from which the institution has never recovered.
The proximity to the Paris Olympics, in fourteen months, and this endless crisis, worried many players in French sport. ” This resignation is a way of settling the crisis, and it’s quite noble »reacted another president of the federation.
(With AFP)