The profile contrasts with its predecessor. After the loud-mouthed Claude Onesta, with a CV as long as his arm and methods sometimes criticized by his interlocutors from the federations, the former captain of the French gymnastics team, Yann Cucherat, should take the helm of the National Agency of sport (ANS) once the Paris Olympic Games have passed in 2024. The Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, announced on Friday, December 1, that she would propose the name of the ex-gymnast to succeed Onesta as general manager of high performance of the “Agency”, the body responsible for the high level of French sport, whose mandate will end on December 31, 2024.
It is on the sidelines of the presentation of the Maison de la performance, which will notably be the training site of the French team during the Olympics, where she recalled the “demanding” objective of climbing into the top 5 medals at the Paris Games, which the minister indicated that she would submit the name of Yann Cucherat to the board of directors of the ANS.
Aged 44, the former gymnast is already part of the body, where he serves as manager of preparation for the Paris Games. The silver medalist (on the high bar) at the world championships in Melbourne in 2005, served as sports director of the French gymnastics team after his retirement from sports, before making a switch to politics . Deputy – in charge of sports – of Gérard Collomb at Lyon town hall, Yann Cucherat failed to succeed the former Minister of the Interior (who died last Saturday) during the 2020 municipal elections.
More consensual than Claude Onesta, Yann Cucherat presents, according to a sports manager, the double advantage of having “the confidence of the sports movement and the ear of the minister”, who would involve him more and more in her decision-making. But the successful former coach of French handball remains firmly at the helm of the ANS with a view to the Paris Games and remains confident, despite the contrasting performances of French sport this year. “We are going to achieve exceptional results,” the manager predicted on Friday. It’s not a crazy dream. »
Through its “Win in France” program – led by Yann Cucherat – the ANS has been working for months on the idea of making the Games at home an advantage for French sport. And nearly 650 athletes – Olympic and Paralympic – are closely monitored and helped to enable France to beat its record for gold medals, which dates back to the Atlanta Games in 1996 (15 titles). “The ambition of the top 5 is obviously demanding,” acknowledged Amélie Oudéa-Castéra on Friday. It would be premature to predict a rank [more precise than the top 5] for France in the medal table, because many uncertainties remain. » That concerning the successor of Claude Onesta has been lifted.