Laëtitia Guapo wants her revenge. After the “chocolate medal” of her three-way basketball team at the Tokyo Olympics, this champion, in the national team since 2019, saw her motivation redouble. You still have to have the means to achieve your ambitions. Secondary PE teacher, this 28-year-old from Clermont is on availability, unpaid. However, to best prepare for Paris 2024, she must surround herself with preparers and a dietitian. Money is the crux of the matter for those aiming for gold. Since the last Olympic Games, it has been able to count on the Auvergne-Limousin Savings Bank, which supports it through the performance pact. A hand-made public system to encourage companies to finance the French champions.
Created within the framework of the law of November 27, 2015, it aimed to protect high-level athletes, ahead of the Rio Olympics in 2016. At the time, a report showed that 60% of athletes were in a situation of precariousness. “But, after the Games, many companies withdrew, deploring a lack of exposure and image feedback. In this context, and in order to build a patronage action, Thierry Braillard, then Secretary of State in charge of Sports, transferred the performance pact to the French Sports Foundation”, explains Charlotte Feraille, general delegate of this organization. The key for companies is a tax exemption of 60% of donations made to the foundation. “Companies are authorized to echo their contribution, as part of their institutional communication, she continues. The cost for them is limited, as is the risk: we guarantee that they are high-performance athletes, in difficulty on a material level and who need to build their professional integration project.”
At least 20,000 euros per athlete per year
At the beginning of December, there were 450 beneficiaries. Companies commit for a minimum of one year – and ideally four years for an Olympics –, for an investment of at least 20,000 euros per athlete per year, before tax exemption. “In the absence of aid, companies generally do not give more than 5,000 euros, points out Charlotte Feraille. As part of the foundation, we try to get them towards 25,000 euros, so that the athlete has of a little more than a minimum wage to live on. This limited amount also makes it possible to ensure that the compensation requested does not go beyond the framework set by the tax administration. Certain athletes can, in addition, receive subsidies of from communities or, for medal winners, from the National Sports Agency, able to supplement their income, which can then reach 40,000 euros.” In 2022, the performance pact attracted 9 million euros in donations. It is expected to exceed 11 million in 2023.
The commitment can be purely financial, or include a professional integration component. Saint-Gobain preferred the first option: its “team” consists of seven athletes. Envelope: 200,000 euros, before tax exemption. “We chose them for their medal potential, but also their personality and their life journey,” explains Laurence Pernot, communications director for the group specializing in construction materials. Among them, disabled rowing champion Margot Boulet, a former police officer who was injured during a skydiving course with the GIGN and who “rediscovered the desire and taste for commitment through sport” . Or the athlete Ludvy Vaillant, very involved with young people in Martinique. For its part, BPCE claims the largest contingent: more than 240 athletes, associated with its various entities: Caisse d’Epargne, Banque Populaire, Natixis… “We have decided to favor less publicized disciplines, with an emphasis on disabled sports – 70 are para-athletes, details Benoît Gausseron, director of the BPCE partnership for the Paris Olympics. Half are supported via the performance pact, which provides financial assistance and post-career preparation, whether to join BPCE or other companies. The other half signed a sponsorship and image contract.”
In exchange, athletes participate in events with employees or members. “During our internal or external seminars, they speak, share their experience as athletes on managing emotions, team spirit… Marie Patouillet, disabled sports cyclist and military doctor, spoke alongside our president, Nicolas Namias, for the wishes addressed to the 100,000 employees. Of course, we have to juggle their schedules, especially when we approach the Olympics.” Athletes willingly give in to exercise. “An agency director approached me. He was thinking about how to bring together a collective to exceed last year’s objectives. We are confronted with this on a daily basis! smiles Laëtitia Guapo. This type of intervention allows us to diversify our skills. This interests me all the more as I may not remain a PE teacher all my life.”
The reputation issue
Companies of all sizes are getting into sports sponsorship. The biggest ones clearly benefit from the affair: the image is flattering and the stake is limited. “Brands invest here more for their reputation than for their notoriety, indicates Lionel Maltese, professor at Kedge Business School. Reputation is a promise made to all stakeholders, including employees. Athletes allow them to communicate to their destination of all their targets, including potential candidates, in a period when recruitment is difficult.”
Therefore, can we still truly speak of patronage? Former high-level handball player Julien Jouny-Rivier, now a marketing professor at Essca, wonders, because there is nothing disinterested about the approach. “In theory, within the framework of sponsorship, we cannot know who has made a donation to whom, and we do not expect remuneration in exchange. Within the framework of the performance pact, the return is twofold: tax exemption and institutional communication.”
Outside of the performance pact, within the framework of more traditional image contracts, the communication operation is fully assumed. LVMH highlights its “ambassadors”. Luxury requires, the French giant limits itself to a handful of athletes – four to date, one or two others could join them soon – and seeks a certain exclusivity in its alliances. Internally, we claim not to have sought the most bankable, the greatest chances of medals or those who are most followed on social networks. Rather those who had few partners and, if possible, some affinity with the world of fashion or the arts. A stroke of luck – it is necessary in marketing, as in sport – LVMH had approached Léon Marchand just before he exploded the counters during the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, last July.
A positive effect on performance
Other patrons go further to ensure the second life of these athletes. “It is no longer just a matter of supporting performance during their career, but also of promoting their social reintegration afterwards,” explains Julien Jouny-Rivier, from Essca. For a long time, public organizations have assumed this role, such as the SNCF. “Originally, our ‘athletes system’, created in 1982, allowed railway workers to continue to practice a sport at a very high level, by arranging their working time so that they could train. Then we recruited athletes, who then became railway workers”, says Laurent Guillemette, director of major sporting events for the railway company, and himself integrated in 2001 when he was skipper. Since its inception, around 250 athletes – currently 31 – have benefited from this program. And 70% of them stayed at the SNCF after hanging up their crampons. For the company, the effort is very concrete: the athlete-employee only commits to working 50 days per year. “And, during an Olympic year, depending on need, we can release them for up to a year,” specifies Laurent Guillemette. For athletes, this reassuring framework has direct effects… on their stopwatches. “It’s impressive. In sports where we can measure performance, in time or distance, we see that they beat their records within twelve to eighteen months after integrating our system”, underlines the former skipper.
At EDF, this type of contract is now in the minority. Among the 34 athletes supported with a view to Paris 2024, three are employees: the fencer Romain Cannone, in management control, the disabled long jumper Alexandra Nouchet and the multi-medalist in para-athletics Marie-Amélie Le Fur, in the professions of Communication. The first two are “100% released from their missions to prepare for the Games”, the third is seconded to chair the French Paralympic and Sports Committee. With the rest of the team, the electrician established image contracts. “THE team EDF is a mix of experienced athletes, like Alain Bernard [NDLR : retraité des bassins], established stars, such as swimmer Florent Manaudou and judokate Clarisse Agbégnénou, and young talents, such as Flora Vautier, in para table tennis. Just like our company, describes Alexandre Boulleray, responsible for sponsorship. They form a real collective. Their WhatsApp group is very active!”
For the alchemy to work, it is better to avoid forced marriages. Companies and athletes choose each other. “I pay attention to the image I want to send,” confides basketball player Laëtitia Guapo, sponsored by EDF and MGEN, in addition to the Savings Bank. And, sometimes, the champions are already there… Like this Congolese 400-meter runner, Gilles Anthony Afoumba, employee of the Carrefour de Noisy-le-Grand (Seine-Saint-Denis). “We discovered that he had participated in the Tokyo Olympics, and we included him in our team of athletes,” says the director of the Carrefour group’s Paris 2024 partnership, Eve Zuckerman. “He is now devoting himself 100%.” in his preparation and he is hopeful of being the flag bearer of the delegation of the Republic of Congo.” The distributor also works on the afterlife of Moselle wrestler Saifedine Alekma, himself the son of a Carrefour employee, with personalized support. Beyond these unique journeys, the group sees the event as an opportunity to accelerate its corporate strategy, particularly in terms of inclusion and disability, with regard to employees and customers. “The Games do not end on September 8, 2024,” assures Eve Zuckerman. History that these partnerships remain win-win.
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