With all eyes on the Milan Cortina Olympics, the organization of the Winter Games in France in four years’ time is faltering.
Internal tensions have multiplied in recent months, against a backdrop of several resignations, culminating in open conflict between former Olympic gold medalist Edgar Grospiron, who is leading the project, and Cyril Linette, the director general now on his way out.
After a meeting of all stakeholders from the organizing committee, French organizers released a statement on Wednesday that acknowledged “the existence of irreconcilable disagreements between president Edgar Grospiron and director general Cyril Linette.”
During that meeting. Grospiron — a freestyle skiing gold medalist in 1992 when France last hosted the Winter Games and a late hire as president — was asked to come up with proposals to put the project back on tracks.
Organizers of the bid did not immediately respond when asked whether Linette had already stepped down.
Many challenges loom for organizers of the 2030 French Alps Olympics, who must tie together snow and sliding venues in the mountains with skating and curling arenas among the palm trees on the Riviera coastal city Nice. Speed skating events are likely to be held abroad at an existing venue to avoid the high costs of building a suitable rink, with the Thialf Arena in Heerenveen, Netherlands, or the Oval Lingotto in Turin, Italy, among contenders.
A definitive map of the sites has yet to be adopted and is expected to be decided by the end of June.
The feud between Grospiron and Linette is just the latest episode in a saga of turbulences that have weakened the project. It follows the successive resignations of chief operating officer Anne Murac, communications director Arthur Richer, as well as the departure of Bertrand Méheut, who was in charge of the remuneration committee.
Organizers said they have agreed on a governance timetable, with an executive board meeting to be held on Feb. 22. Etienne Thobois, the general director of the Paris 2024 Games, was last month tasked with a support mission and his recommendations will be reviewed during the meeting.
A further executive board meeting on March 19 will determine operational arrangements for implementing the new organization.
Swift assembly
The French bid was quickly assembled in 2023 and approved by the International Olympic Committee on the eve of a successful Summer Games in Paris. The IOC granted an exceptional delay to secure guarantees from the French government as the 2030 Winter Games was on the tightest of time scales with just 5 1/2 years between the hosting award and the opening ceremony.
The governance crisis, which comes as the French Parliament has just adopted the law relating to the organization of the event, has alarmed French lawmakers. The Culture Committee of the French Senate expressed concerns about the organizers’ ability to “successfully deliver an event of major importance” for France. It has summoned Grospiron and Pierre-Antoine Molina, the interministerial delegate for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, to a hearing on Feb. 25
The total budget for the 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games is estimated at around 3.4 billion euros ($4.04 billion), including the cost of organizing the Games (€2.1 billion) and infrastructure expenditure (€1.3 billion).
In addition to the infighting, the French project is also facing opposition from a citizen’s group which has launched legal action to demand a public debate on the Games. They are staging a public protest in Grenoble on Saturday that will be followed by “a closing ceremony for the 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
“Between the enormous budgetary waste of at least €3.5 billion, the destruction and concreting over of our mountains, confinement in an outdated and unjust all-ski model, generalized surveillance, and the exclusion of the most vulnerable, this so-called ‘celebration’ already appears to be one for a handful of wealthy tourists — while the people of the Alps will be left to pay the bill,” the Collectif Citoyen JOP 2030 said.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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