“Looking for a specialist in navigation in stormy waters. Beginner refrain. » The Organizing Committee for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop) will not need to publish this type of classified ad. He already has, a priori, everything he needs on hand. Impetuous rivers and torrents to tame, currents and whirlpools to anticipate… this was the specialty of its president, Tony Estanguet.
Now is the time for the former three-time Olympic canoe champion to call on his past whitewater slalom experience – “the river taught me that nothing ever goes as planned” – to keep the Paris 2024 boat, if not afloat, at least in the direction of the current.
This one is shaken to say the least. Four of the main leaders of Cojop are now the target of financial legal investigations. Including Tony Estanguet himself, on the conditions of his remuneration, as revealed on Tuesday February 6.
The most jaded (or cynical) will say that this is almost consubstantial with the small world of Olympic organizations. Most recent editions of the Games have been synonymous with financial scandals (conflicts of interest, corruption, etc.).
In addition to the announcements of the investigations which took place at the beginning of summer 2023 – and materialized by searches, in particular at the headquarters of Paris 2024 –, the “Estanguet affair” comes, in any case, to further damage the ‘image of Games ” different “more exemplary, brittle ” the codes “which the official discourse seeks to convey.
Promise of a new Olympic world
The former champion himself was also supposed to embody this promise of a new Olympic world, through the image he could carry, almost immaculate, far from sports business – “a canoe champion, typically, he lives in the woods”summed up, in his own way, the comedian Tanguy Pastureau on France Inter, February 7.
Until now, as no one has been indicted or, a fortiori, convicted, all this has not had any visible effects on the daily preparation of the Games. All the less, undoubtedly, since the national financial prosecutor, who oversees these investigations, had, in September 2023, ruled out the existence “elements that could lead to extremely serious acts of corruption or influence peddling” and warned that the“objective is to allow a peaceful unfolding of a universal celebration”.
The disclosure of the investigation targeting Tony Estanguet, however, comes in the home stretch before the start of the Games. Which is not trivial because this operational phase assumes that energies are not diverted too much from the concrete implementation of all the components that must contribute to the successful holding of the summer event.
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