Around fifty leaders from the sporting world provide their support to Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, in an open letter

Around twenty presidents of federations (rugby, handball, tennis, basketball, etc.) provide their support to the Minister of Sports, in turmoil since her appointment to National Education.

A reinforcement for a minister under fire from criticism. Around fifty leaders from the sporting world gave their support to Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, Saturday January 27, by calling on the educational community to “take the time to [la] discover”. In an open letter published on the site Latribune.fr, these 50 leaders, including 20 presidents of federations, express their “respect and [leur] recognition to a minister who knew how to (…) live up to her role, with listening, demands and leadership”.

Among them, the presidents of the French handball federations Philippe Bana, tennis Gilles Moretton, basketball Jean-Pierre Siutat, rugby Florian Grill and even the high performance manager within the National Sports Agency Claude Onesta. Appointed on January 11 at the head of a super-ministry bringing together National Education, Youth, Sports and the Olympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has since come under fire from criticism, in particular because of the schooling of her children in the Parisian private school Stanislas and his declarations on the Littré public school and its “packets of hours not seriously replaced”.

Leaders “happy” with his appointment

The leaders who signed the letter say they are “happy” of his appointment “for the future of the school, for you, a member of this educational community so precious for the future of our children” and finally because “everything starts at school, also, or even above all, the practice of physical and sporting activity”. The text also recalls that his arrival at the head of the Ministry of Sports and Games was received with high standards in May 2022: “Our expectations were high in order to have the capacity to meet the challenges that presented themselves to us and to initiate the necessary reforms”write these leaders.

“We advise you to take the time to discover it, because it will reveal itself as it was with us, always full of attention and respect, in order to initiate the necessary reforms”, they continue. On the sporting side, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra was also targeted at the start of the week by a parliamentary report on sports federations which highlighted her salary “unnatural” when she headed the French Tennis Federation. A document that she described as “activist” and whose work was “instrumentalized for political purposes”said those around him.