Amelie Oudea-Castera, Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games was the guest of the 8:30 a.m. france infoWednesday April 12, 2023. Adrien Quatennens, Paris 2024, Russian athletes and motherhood in high-level sport… She answers questions from Marc Fauvelle and Salhia Brakhlia.
Quatennens: “If these facts had occurred in the Renaissance party, there would have been a definitive exclusion”
“If these facts had occurred in the Renaissance party, there would have been a definitive exclusion”, affirms Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, after the reinstatement of the deputy for the North Adrien Quatennens within the parliamentary group of La France insoumise, four months after his conviction for violence against his ex-companion. The Minister of Sports says to herself “shocked as a woman” by this decision taken on Tuesday. She believes that “everyone must be exemplary” on issues of violence against women, which she describes as “a scourge that must be fought with the greatest firmness”.
Paris 2024: “There is no slippage” in the budget
“There is no slippage” in the budget allocated to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, supports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. She specifies that the “the budget of the Organizing Committee is 4.4 billion euros, 96% financed exclusively by private funds” and “the budget of Solideo (Olympic works delivery company) is 3.8 billion euros”. She acknowledges that there has been on the budget of the Organizing Committee a “cost evolution of 10%, of which 5% for inflation“.
Paris 2024: Macron “will speak in the summer” on a possible exclusion of Russian athletes
The Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games assures that “the head of state will speak in the summer” on the question of the presence of Russian athletes at the 2024 Paris Games. Amélie Oudéa-Castéra specifies that it is all the same “the International Olympic Committee which has the final say” on a possible exclusion. The latter will speak “in good time, in the last part of the year”even though he has already given “recommendations relating to international federations”.
The French minister reaffirms her support for the Ukrainians and recalls that she has unblocked “an aid of one million euros for the Ukrainian Olympic and Paralympic delegation”. Amélie Oudéa-Castéra considers that we should also not “not contravene certain UN principles of non-discrimination of persons because of their nationality”. “Russian athletes who have directly or indirectly supported the war, who are more or less affiliated with the Russian army, will not have their place in the 2024 Games”she says.
Maternity in high-level sport: so that sports mothers “no longer suffer unjustified constraints”
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra says to herself “very active” on the question of motherhood in high-level sport. The Minister of Sports wants sportswomen who are mothers “no longer undergo unjustified constraints, that there is good fairness in the sporting regulations and that there are facilities around her allowing them to fully experience their motherhood without giving up their passion and their excellence in sport “.
Amélie Oudéa-Castéra also welcomes the decision taken by the women’s football team to play with blue shorts during the next World Cup, in order to no longer be stressed about seeing a red spot appear during their period. “It’s a nice symbolic progress”judges the Minister of Sports who believes that “every discipline will move forward” on this topic. It also calls for having “a broader approach than that of equipment”. She pleads for “train coaches and progress on the form of our athletes in relation to the hormonal profiles they present”.
Ramadan among footballers: we need “pragmatic solutions”
Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra pleads for “pragmatic solutions” to allow Muslim athletes to break their fast during a football match, for example. She don’t want the set up “specially arranged element”and rather highlights the fact that “the current framework for the practice of football allows everyone to live their religion”. It refers in particular to break times or stoppages in play.
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Find the entire “8:30 am franceinfo” of Wednesday April 12, 2023: