An exceptional guest of Europe 1 Sport for almost half an hour, the Sovereign Prince talks about his passion for sport and the Olympic Games, in which he participated five times in the bobsleigh events, on his place on the International Committee Olympic, but also on his grandfather John Kelly, triple gold medalist in rowing. Finally, he will talk about the Beijing Games which started this week, as well as the next Games in Paris 2024.
Sport in its DNA: “A great sporting practice in the Principality”
“It’s both by taste and by personal practice, but it’s also a family heritage since on my mother’s side, my grandfather (John Kelly) was three times Olympic rowing champion (two medals in gold in 1920 and one in 1924), my uncle Jack was a four-time Olympian, bronze medalist at the Melbourne Games (1956), always in rowing. And then on my father’s side too, there was a great family practice I have a great-uncle, Prince Guy de Polignac, who was in the French bobsleigh team in the 1930s at the Games and he was in the world championship. So I’m not the first in the family to having done bobsleigh.
But there is a great sporting practice in the Principality. There is great enthusiasm for sport in the Principality. It is part of the evolution and development of the Principality in our contemporary era. Water sports in the first place, but also, of course, football, motorsport, tennis and basketball now. We have been able to organize major meetings for more than thirty years now, in swimming and athletics too. So there is really a great enthusiasm, but also a great desire to practice. We have encouraged school sport for a very long time, we have better structured it, but also associative sport. There are more than 150 associations, not only sporting, but charitable in Monaco. We have a record number of licensees compared to the number of people residing in the Principality. So we’re really a very sporty city.”
On the Beijing games: “It was imperative that these games take place”
“It will be a very special edition of the Games. The Chinese absolutely wanted this candidacy for the Winter Games to succeed, not only for the development of winter sports in China, but also because they wanted to be the first city having hosted both the Summer Games (in 2008) and the Winter Games, which is quite remarkable, but there is definitely a desire to show the world that they are moving towards more sustainability. first, that they adhere to the new standards issued by the IOC on a more rigorous, less costly organization of games, less gigantism by moving towards more sustainability. In Beijing, there is a real rehabilitation of the different stadiums and the different sports venues for the Winter Games.
First of all, I am thinking not only of the Olympic Stadium, of the famous Bird’s Nest, but also of the water cube which will become an ice cube since it will host the curling events. So there is a real desire to use what already exists, to rehabilitate it, but also to make better use of energy, by moving towards more renewable energies. And I believe that we will see that in detail as the Games approach. It’s a very special edition because of the pandemic and the Chinese have issued very strict rules and it will be a little less festive, there will be less warmth, human warmth and enthusiasm. But I think it was absolutely imperative that these games take place. Primarily for athletes.
If we skip an edition of the Winter Games, it is to the detriment of the athletes. It’s putting them in a little difficulty for the development of their career, their aspirations and their objectives. We couldn’t postpone another edition, we had to postpone the Tokyo Summer Games and we didn’t want to fall into the same situation. We had to work very closely with the Chinese authorities, with the organizers of the Games, so that there was a fairly strict framework for these Games to take place.
On the Monegasque delegation
“There is not only the bobsleigh. There is also a skier, Arnaud Alessandria, who will be our flag bearer, who is a boy who has great qualities, who unfortunately had a career marred by injuries. , but who is a downhiller and who will also participate in the super-G and can be combined. It will depend on his form at the time, but we have good hopes on him. The men’s bobsleigh team, unfortunately, we have not women’s team for the moment, maybe it will come one day. There are three of them, but they are doing the two-man with a substitute. Andy, the driver, who is a boy who has already had very good results in the European Cup and the World Cup, but also who, with another teammate, had won a bronze medal at the Youth Games in Innsbruck (Austria) in 2010.
He is a boy who, unfortunately, also had some injury problems. He had to be operated on, notably on the foot, a year ago. He came back in good shape and I hope he can steer our two-man to good results. He will be associated with Boris Vain, who is a very handsome athlete, a former shot putter who converted to bobsleigh and who has very good physical qualities. And Anthony Rinaldi, who is Rudi’s brother and who will be the backup brakeman.”
On the Paris Olympics: “I can’t wait to be there”
“The opening ceremony is going to be completely original and completely extraordinary. First, to leave a stadium, it has been done at other games, but much more modest. But here, to do that on the Seine with a unique participation of the athletes and the public, it will really be an extraordinary bond and an extraordinary theater for a very beautiful celebration. I can’t wait to be there.”
Evolution of the Olympic Games: “You have to know how to adapt to your time”
“It’s also part of the evolution of the IOC’s new agenda. Towards more transparency and more sustainability, but also towards more commitment. We had to evolve. We also had to start from the observation that there was less in fewer young spectators following the Olympic Games. It was necessary to create this link with the new generations and therefore to go towards what they would like to see, the sports in which they would like to participate as well and create a better relevance in our contemporary world. I think it’s a completely normal development. I think you have to know how to adapt to the times, but you also have to know how to reinvent yourself. These new sports, it really had a very good echo. It was very well followed, so I think that all these new sports will add to the Olympic movement.”
On Kylian Mbappé: “He can become a more complete player”
“He is still young and he entered the international scene and the French football scene very young. I think he can still progress and he can become a more complete player in the game. He has extraordinary speed But he can also become, why not, a game distributor with an even more refined technique. He will be Ballon d’Or one day. It’s a source of pride because we were his training club and we don’t forget it. He’s a smart boy with a great outlook. I wish him the best for his career.”
His involvement with AS Monaco: “I am associated with major decisions”
“There is a group of Monegasque investors who are still involved in the club and its structure. It is normal that I follow this and that I can also give my opinion sometimes. But the current leaders have understood this well, have also respected him well. There is a dialogue that is not as regular as in the past, but which is still there several times a season. I am involved in the major decisions that affect the club.”
On the ousting of Niko Kovac: “A decision a little too hasty”
“I was shown by several arguments that it was time to change. Because we were not in the objectives that we had set at the start of the season. But hey, normally, we do the assessment towards the end of the season and not in the middle. It is true that even if Philippe Clément is a very good coach, someone who is absolutely charming and with very good results in the teams he has already I might have left Niko Kovac for a few more months, probably until the end of the season. I hope I’m wrong, but I think it was a bit too hasty a decision.”
On AS Monaco’s ambitions: “It’s difficult for us to compete with the biggest clubs”
“Of course it’s a wish and it’s a wish, but we know it will be very difficult because it’s difficult for us to compete with the biggest clubs, even if we have structured ourselves much better these days. last years. We have become much more professional, but we are not on the same scale as Manchester clubs, Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, Juventus. I can name dozens of them. We don’t have a choice. We don’t have a very big stadium and there’s no reason for us to have a bigger stadium because we have a population pool which is what it is , even if we draw a lot of spectators out of Monaco.
Our economic model is made in such a way that when we have very little chance of being able to compete from a financial point of view with the biggest clubs, it is difficult to attract confirmed players. So we focus more on young players and on the training of young players who, of course, will have to leave the club. And that’s why we have to be very vigilant about the quality of coaches and trainers. We have to make every effort to ensure that the academy is always of an excellent standard.”