Fencer Astrid Guyart is going to scrape the political field

This day in 1998, Astrid Guyart remembers it as if it were yesterday. She’s 15, and a trainer calls her to tell her the good news: “You have been chosen to represent France in the world championship. ” She will don the blue-white-red tracksuit. “I was offered to lend me one but I refused. I wanted it to be mine. “ There was no question of starting a high-level sports career in someone else’s costume. Especially since this tracksuit, she does not intend to abandon it anytime soon.

Twenty-three years later, after having shone for the last time at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the multi-medalist fencer has just put her tricolor garment in the closet… the better to put on another one. She began a new, more political life at the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF). At 38, she has just joined the executive office of this institution in July, which represents the International Olympic Committee in France, and acts as a link between athletes and public authorities.

She revealed her homosexuality

For the first time, a woman, footballer Brigitte Henriques, has just taken over the presidency of the French Committee. Elected alongside her as Deputy Secretary General, Astrid Guyart’s mission is to modernize this structure, and to “Put the athletes back at the heart of the Olympic project”. She will supervise with a seasoned eye the preparation of the Paris 2024 Olympics, with the hope that they will promote the French sports practice, and do not turn into financial disaster for the capital.

“It has been an honor to serve France as an athlete. If I have to do it differently, it will be too, ”says Astrid Guyart.

“It is a clearly political role”, assumes the person, always ready to get involved. After having fought for the fight against doping to target cheaters – and not the athletes who sometimes simply forget to make the necessary declarations – Astrid Guyart called for breaking the silence on sexual violence in sport. Then, in June, with five other athletes, she revealed her homosexuality in the Canal + documentary We need to talk. “I’m coming to an age where you want to change the lines”, she explains.

Around her, some already imagine her becoming minister of sports one day. “This kind of position cannot be refused, she replies. It has been an honor to serve France as an athlete. If I have to do it any other way, so will it. ” Louis Vogel, the center-right mayor (Agir) of Melun, whom she supported during the regional campaign, applauds: “Discipline, endurance, tenacity, a sense of working together… With her experience, she has a lot to contribute. ”

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