The mystery was no longer very thick as his name came back with insistence in recent weeks to succeed Brigitte Henriques, who resigned on May 25 from the presidency of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF). He himself said he was ready to “take responsibility” if a consensus emerged around him. Friday, June 16, David Lappartient officially announced that he was a candidate for the presidency of the CNOSF for the election of June 29.
He announced it in a letter addressed to the presidents of the federation and to the members of the board of directors of the apex institution of French sport, shaken for more than eighteen months by a crisis of governance. In his letter, which L’Equipe was able to consult, David Lappartient details the reasons why he is embarking on the battle just over a year before the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.
The president of the International Cycling Union justifies his decision in particular by the need to “pacify relations and promote the gathering of all players in French sport”. “I think I have the capacity to guarantee this gathering”, assures David Lappartient – also a member of the International Olympic Committee -, specifying that he would exercise his functions at the head of the CNOSF on a voluntary basis – unlike Brigitte Henriques – and until 2025 only.
Accumulation of mandates
In his letter, he details what he wishes to accomplish to “collectively succeed in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in order to make it a sporting, organizational and popular success”. The finalization of the Club France 2024 project, as well as the work on the legacy of the Olympics are among his priorities “to make France an even more sporting nation”, assures the one who is also, among other things, at the head of the departmental council of Morbihan, his electoral stronghold.
Aware that the accumulation of his multiple mandates is likely to pose a problem, Mr. Lappartient said he was ready to abandon certain activities or to review his “mode of operation”, specifying however: “I will not resign from the presidency of the UCI, I will not resign from the presidency of the department, but I will undoubtedly resign from the presidency of the natural park of the Gulf of Morbihan. »
The CNOSF ethics committee will now send its opinion on the admissibility of each application file to the body’s executive office, which will announce the final list of applications on June 26. Will this body also study the problematic links – revealed by Le Monde – of Mr. Lappartient with a Russian oligarch who is a member of the UCI management committee?
Favorite in the June 29 election, David Lappartient is the second declared candidate for the head of the CNOSF after Emmanuelle Bonnet-Oulaldj, president of the Sports and Gymnastics Federation of Labor (FSGT) – a non-Olympic federation -, who built her candidacy on “autonomy” and “the diversity of the sports movement”.
