As in Tokyo last summer, a man and a woman from the French delegation will be designated flag bearers at the Beijing Olympic Games which begin on February 4. The Monts d’Olmes (Ariège) skier Perrine Laffont is one of the names that comes up often on the table. If she would like to be, organizational concerns are disrupting plans. Other voices are raised for everything to be done to see “Pépette” standard bearer.
Laffont: “Not everyone has the opportunity to have a chance”
Perrine Laffont herself admits that being a flag bearer is something you cannot refuse but it will undoubtedly be complicated: “I would like … I would have liked a lot but the problem with these Games is that the skiers are very far from the Olympic village. Everyone is racking their brains to see how we could get there but it’s four hours by car. With all the health protocols, it seems complicated to me but that would have been a great source of pride. In addition, the ski events are from the start of the Games on the 5th. It’s a shame because “Other athletes could have claimed it too. It is not accessible to everyone. It will be accessible to those who have the events at the end of the Games or those who are on the ice and who are on site in Beijing. _It’s a shame, it doesn’t give everyone the opportunity to have a chance_“, she explains to France Bleu Occitanie.
Kamel Chibli: “It seems amazing”
At 23, Perrine Laffont will experience her third Olympiad and has an impressive track record. Several World Cup titles and a gold medal at the Games in 2019. This made Kamel Chibli, vice-president of the Occitanie region in charge of sports, say that everything must be done to ensure that she is the flag bearer : “It is regrettable and damaging for her because in the history of a high level competitor it is still a real pride to be the flag bearer of his country. In addition, she is unanimous. Young, already Olympic champion … It sounds amazing. If we really consider it legitimate, we must create the conditions for it to be a standard bearer. I will advocate nationally and internationally. They will not explain to me that it is impossible. It has to become a political subject so that she can be a flag bearer. “
The names of the flag bearers of the French delegation will be known at the end of January.