The Olympic flame for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will not pass through Haute-Loire. After Creuse, Haute-Vienne or even Lot-et-Garonne, the Altiligérien department will not apply for this passage of the flame. Because that would mean spend around 180,000 eurosfar too expensive according to the elected officials of the Department.
A “disproportionate” amount
“The problem is not the passage of the flame but the amount that is requested“, explains Brigitte Renaud, vice-president of the Haute-Loire department council in charge of sport.180,000 euros is disproportionate. The Department cannot afford to pay such a large sum. We didn’t have the details of the route, but it would have been a quick trip, without necessarily seeing our territory and there being any fallout for the department..”
A finding shared unanimously by all the elected officials of the Department this Monday, when the subject was broached by President Marie-Agnès Petit during the Plenary Assembly. “We prefer to support these Olympic Games through the municipalities which will organize meetings and events around sport and the Olympics for schoolchildren and college students.“, confides Brigitte Renaud.
A logic of “economic profitability” according to the Olympic and Sports Committee of Haute-Loire
“It’s a regrettable decision, but completely understandable.“, reacts for his part Jean-Yves Masson, president of the Olympic and sports Committee of Haute-Loire.The Department is already involved in a lot of projects in the context of the preparation of these Games, so it is necessary to make arbitrations. It’s a shame because it’s still an event, but with this choice of the Paris 2024 Olympics organizing committee, we are more in an economic logic than in a sporting logic.
Jean-Yves Masson also specifies that many local authorities in the Altiliger region are in the process of requesting their “Terre de Jeux 2024” labelto promote sport and these Olympics. “Many schools are also involved in this process. We will also rely on the two Olympic training centers labeled in Haute-Loire, namely Tence for rugby and the Beaulieu stand for sports shooting.