Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
French Olympic Committee in turmoil as president resigns
FRANCE 24 English
Follow
5/25/2023
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
đ
News
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
Now the head of the French Olympic Committee Brigitte Henry has resigned 14 months before
00:07
the Paris 2024 Games. She had previously asked the International Olympic Committee to launch an
00:12
internal investigation amid a long-standing row with the body's former General Secretary Didier
00:19
Semeny. Now last year Henry took two months of sick leave, excuse me, accusing Semeny of what
00:26
she called psychological violence. To tell us a bit more, Philip Turrell from our Foreign Affairs
00:31
desk is with me and Philip, first of all, do we know why Henri has quit today? Well I think that
00:38
we are face to face with a situation within the French National Olympic and Sportive Committee
00:44
which is pretty much like an episode of Game of Thrones to be honest with backbiting, fighting,
00:50
vendettas, court cases and a lot of insults being traded between the different members. Now
00:57
Brigitte Henry took over the job back in June 2021 from the former president who is called
01:07
Denis Massiglia and the two have never really got on. They tried hard to get on but
01:14
there've been all sorts of financial complications. He's been accused of spending too much money as
01:20
an honorary president, something that he shouldn't have done. That all ended very badly. He has now
01:27
threatened to take her to court. They're expecting a court order of complaints about the way she's
01:32
been managing the committee since she took over. Coupled with that we also have the other argument,
01:37
the one you were just telling us about, with her former General Secretary who's called Denis
01:43
Semeny and she got rid of him just after a year of them working together saying that she had been
01:49
confronted by him, there was a situation of difficulty working together, they had different
01:54
visions of how the committee should be managed and that he had been threatening her with slander and
02:02
breach of trust. So since that happened he has now also said that he's going to take her to court
02:07
because all of those accusations are totally unjustified. As you were saying she was away
02:11
for two months between October and December last year to rest from all the difficulty that she's
02:18
been facing but things have not improved since she came back and many people within the Olympic
02:22
Committee have been saying it's only a question of time until Brigitte Haurique throws in the
02:26
towel and someone else will have to take over. The big problem here Nadia is of course everybody
02:31
knows that the Olympic Games are going to be taking place in just over a year's time here
02:34
in France and this comes along at one of the worst possible moments because it's not only bad for the
02:39
Olympic Committee here in France but also gives a very bad image of France in general when such a
02:45
prestigious event is being organised and so many problems don't seem to be able to be solved ahead
02:51
of time. So do you think Philip this will affect how the Olympics is actually organised in a year's
02:57
time? Well that is the big question. I don't think so. The Olympic Committee is saying look all the
03:04
building of the construction work as far as stadiums are concerned, as lodgings are concerned,
03:10
hotels and all that kind of construction work goes is happening according to plan and will be okay
03:18
but there are questions being raised about the tickets and the inaccessibility of tickets,
03:22
the cost of tickets, many people complaining they're too expensive and also about transport,
03:26
20% extra transport needed to take people around the city during the Olympic Games,
03:32
that doesn't appear to have been solved yet so quite a few problems still remain to be
03:36
worked out before the Olympics take place next year. Philip Tell, thanks very much.
Recommended
0:15
|
Up next
MR1
Go Go Video
1/9/2022
0:22
thththth
Go Go Video
9/20/2020
0:19
GJGJGJ
Go Go Video
1/14/2019
1:10
John F. Kennedy Assassination 16mm Original - Driver shooting at Kennedy!
Jelani Trent
9/7/2015
9:54
'We have to do more with less' - international development challenges after USAID cuts
FRANCE 24 English
today
10:34
Stocamine, Alsace: 'Toxicity of chemical waste will not disappear, nobody knows how to deal with it'
FRANCE 24 English
today
2:09
Soaring temperatures prompt stay-home warnings across Europe
FRANCE 24 English
yesterday
2:52
Iranians flee to Turkey to seek safety amid Israeli strikes
FRANCE 24 English
yesterday
1:48
Bulgarians protest government's plan to adopt the euro
FRANCE 24 English
yesterday
5:13
Major heatwaves sweep Southern and Western Europe
FRANCE 24 English
yesterday
1:33
At least 71 killed in Israel's attack on Tehran's Evin prison
FRANCE 24 English
yesterday
1:29
France bans smoking in parks, beaches and bus stops
FRANCE 24 English
yesterday
1:39
Irish rap group Kneecap perform controversial Glastonbury set
FRANCE 24 English
yesterday
1:47
Tens of thousands defy Orban's ban to march in Budapest Pride
FRANCE 24 English
yesterday
2:05
US senators debate Trump's controversial spending bill
FRANCE 24 English
yesterday
17:41
Trump business for security deal 'effectively rewards Rwanda for invading, occupying, looting Congo'
FRANCE 24 English
2 days ago
1:55
Israeli strikes kill dozens in Gaza as UN calls for safe access to aid
FRANCE 24 English
2 days ago
2:13
France mulls preventing small boat crossings to UK
FRANCE 24 English
2 days ago
1:35
Climate change threatens France's historic castles
FRANCE 24 English
2 days ago
7:37
Budapest Pride march gets underway despite Orban's ban
FRANCE 24 English
2 days ago
1:32
Europe swelters in summer's first heatwave as continent warms
FRANCE 24 English
2 days ago
6:36
âClass actionâ or âinjunctionâ: Legal paths to block Trumpâs citizenship ban
FRANCE 24 English
2 days ago
2:04
Trump says terminating trade talks with Canada over tax on tech firms
FRANCE 24 English
2 days ago
1:34
US Supreme Court hands Trump win on powers of judges, birthright citizenship in legal limbo
FRANCE 24 English
2 days ago
1:57
Jury to start deliberating in Sean âDiddyâ Combsâ sex trafficking trial
FRANCE 24 English
2 days ago