The list of Paris 2024 Olympic sites is far from complete. After the file of the Olympic swimming pool still not stopped, that of the reception site of the equestrian sports could become a new problem. In the application file, the park of the Palace of Versailles (Yvelines) had been selected and validated.
However, the president of the French Equestrian Federation (FFE) has just given an interview to AFP in which he clearly questions this choice.
“We are in complete contradiction with the stated objective of the government: the Games must not be expensive and leave a legacy. However, there, we will have heavy equipment which will be completely ephemeral, ”laments explains Serge Lecomte.
Privileged historical and emblematic sites
With beach volleyball at the foot of the Eiffel Tower (beach volleyball), archery at the Invalides, fencing and taekwondo at the Grand Palais (fencing, taekwondo), Paris 2024 has established a policy of prestigious historic sites to the detriment of permanent infrastructures left as a legacy but not necessarily used subsequently. With the park of the Palace of Versailles, the organizers have the assurance of having exceptional images in an emblematic site known throughout the world.
Yet it was the FFE that had chosen the former residence of the Sun King. “The Federation should have been more vigilant (…), recognizes Lecomte. We were more impacted by winning the bid, more than any other argument. »
“The surprise” of the organizing committee
At the Paris-2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee (Cojo), we say we are “a little surprised” by this turnaround. “It was the FFE that proposed Versailles two years ago. And the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) considers that it is an exceptional site to promote horse riding on a global level, “said Michaël Aloïsio, chief of staff of the boss of the Cojo, Tony Estanguet, to AFP.
What does the FFE suggest to replace Versailles where a pony club was planned as the only legacy according to Serge Lecomte? “Nobody cares,” he says of this pony club.
“There is a project that suited me well from the start, it was Longchamp to promote a permanent stadium, to hold major international horse riding events, specifies the federal leader. They are in a horse synergy that they are just waiting to develop”, added the Federal President, evoking the idea of ”building two beautiful graded careers for show jumping, a place of welcome that we need in Paris. »
Two logics now clash in this file which could become conflicting. On the one hand, the federation which wants to have permanent infrastructures afterwards. On the other, the organizers of the Olympic Games, bound by financial contingencies, who evoke an intangible heritage. “The model of the Games is no longer to build equipment in all directions. The legacy, today, it must be done on the development of the sporting practice”, underlines for his part Michaël Aloïsio.
“They explain to me that inheritance is not material and that it is moral. However, we have been trying to democratize equestrian activities for 30 years, ”answers Serge Lecomte.