“Don’t worry”. With these words, the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, addressed triple Olympic gold medalist Teddy Riner. The latter, while he was a guest on the France 2 show “Quelle Epoque!”, complained of only having “two places” for his loved ones at the Paris Olympic Games from his federation, and not six as initially planned.
“I am fighting every day to get places,” said Teddy Riner before specifying: “The champion that I am, with everything I have brought back to the Federation, I have the right to two places. But I love my Federation, I love my sport.” A statement which caused surprise to which Amélie Oudéa-Castéra responded on Sunday on X. “Don’t worry @teddyriner, you will have 6 places for your entourage, at each of your sessions!”, wrote the minister.
Don’t worry @teddyrineryou will have 6 places for your entourage, for each of your sessions!
✅ @Sports_gouv offers to all athletes, with @franceolympique, 4 places for each athlete for each session where he/she is competing. For the State, it is an effort… https://t.co/uy85hcW9KL
— Amélie Oudéa-Castéra (@AOC1978) February 25, 2024
An “effort” worth more than 1.6 million euros
In addition to the two places offered by the judo federation, the government, with the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) “offers all athletes four places to each athlete for each of the sessions where he/she is in the running”, for an “effort of more than 1.6 million euros”, she continues.
Regarding Olympic ticketing, often the subject of controversy, the three-time Olympic champion, who will participate in his fifth Games this summer, knows that “the Olympic Games still remain expensive”. But “having seen the prices, they still made the effort to ensure that it was not very expensive for everyone,” he put things into perspective. “I assure you, it is not more (expensive) than elsewhere.”