Things did not take long to evolve for Clarisse Crémer. A few hours after her rant in our pages about her probable non-participation in the next Vendée Globe after the loss of her sponsor, the 33-year-old sailor received the support of the Minister of Sports. In several messages on her twitter account, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra announces that she is on deck and says that nothing is over for the Parisian.
“I spoke with Alain Leboeuf (President of the Vendée and Vendée Globe Departmental Council), who recognizes that the race rules will absolutely have to change to allow sailors to experience their motherhood peacefully. For 2024, Clarisse’s chances are not extinguished”, first indicated the Minister of Sports in her first message.
She then continued: “I am in contact with the stakeholders who are all committed to finding a solution. Because everyone knows that Clarisse Crémer, the fastest woman in history on the Vendée Globe, deserves to be able to take the start on November 10, 2024. The fight so that our sportswomen can reconcile their motherhood and their career is one of my priorities. On March 6, I will hold a workshop to continue to move forward on this major issue with all the players concerned, and to avoid these situations in the future. »
Previously, the Banque Populaire group, its sponsor, considered that Clarisse Crémer was unable to accumulate, due to her recent maternity and a change in the rules (previous finishers are no longer automatically qualified), the sufficient number of points before the start, in November 2024, to qualify. The banking group therefore decided to replace her with another skipper.
“Several solutions have been proposed so that the regulations take into account the situation of women in the Vendée Globe and the question of maternity, wrote the group in a press release. We tried in the conciliation (…) no solution was found, All these proposals, as well as the requests for attribution of a guarantee of wildcard, were rejected, and it is regrettable. »
“This invitation (Editor’s note: the only one provided for by the regulations) is a possibility that was discussed with Team Banque Populaire and Clarisse Crémer, said the organization in another press release at the end of the day. This cannot be marked before the end of the selection process, the Vendée Globe not knowing the skippers who could claim it. Let’s add that at this stage, no skipper is guaranteed to take part in the next Vendée Globe. It is also not certain that the selection process will be activated, since, let us remember, it would only be activated beyond 40 qualified skippers.
In the letter addressed to Clarisse Crémer, in October 2022, the President of the Vendée Globe expressed his wish to see her on the starting line on November 10, 2024: “I reiterate my wish that a sponsor could accompany her in this formidable adventure “.