The question of environmental cost will be central until the organization of the 2030 Winter Olympicswon by the French Alps last July. The eight-time Paralympic skiing champion Marie Bochetone of the main athletes behind the bid, reiterated on Wednesday that this edition will have to be in line with “a slightly more reasoned era” in terms of sustainable development.
“It’s important to organize these Games, but above all to do something good with them”, said the champion at a press briefing held on Wednesday at Parison the occasion of the release of her autobiographical book. Winner of 22 world championship titles, the former skier, who retired in March, spoke of the importance “for our territories of organizing events like this and of giving a new direction to this type of event, so that we enter a more reasoned, reasonable era, respectful of current thinking on our society”.
Referring to the editions of the Games in which she has participated, including those of Sochi (2014), Pyeongchang (2018) and Beijing (2022), which raised questions from an ecological point of view, Marie Bochet wants “the Games in the French Alps are a source of pride for French sportsmen and women, and that we are proud of the events we offer”.
At the time of the IOC in July, the presidents of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regions, Laurent Wauquiez and Renaud Muselierhad promised that the Games would be sustainable, with no “white elephants”, for example – extremely costly constructions that are later abandoned. In April, Laurent Wauquiez promised that all “selected resorts” would have “snow by 2030”, according to estimates.
With Martin Fourcade in the organization?
Renaud Muselier also declared that “practicing winter sports differently does not mean no longer practicing them”, at a time when their future is being called into question by global warming. The French bid had, of course, provoked an outcry from environmentalists.
Maire Bochet, for her part, has expressed her desire to get involved in the organization, but without yet knowing “in what capacity and with whom”. Quoted by Martin Fourcade, candidate to head the organizing committeethe Savoyard said she was “very moved by this trust”. “We talk a lot, not necessarily about where we want to be, but about the vision we have,” she confided.