The Outdoor Sports Valley association (OSV), under threat of a cessation of subsidies from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region after having signed a column calling for the 2030 Olympics “respecting planetary limits”, made an about-face on Monday , evoking “an awkwardness”. “I want to remove any doubt about our support for the 2030 Olympic Games,” declared Cédric Georges, president of this organization which brings together economic players in the world of outdoor sport, during a press conference organized at the Hôtel de region.
The candidacy of the French Alps supported by the presidents of the LR regional councils of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (Aura), Laurent Wauquiez, and of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur (Paca), Renaud Muselier, for the Olympic Games winter of 2030 was the only one retained by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on November 29. A few days earlier, OSV, created in Annecy (Haute-Savoie) in 2010, had co-signed a call from associations and experts listing a certain number of conditions to be respected in order to organize sustainable Winter Olympics.
This position had led to a strong reaction from the vice-president of the Aura region Stéphanie Pernod, who had written to OSV members, in a letter dated December 18, seeing herself “under the obligation to request the withdrawal of the Region of any financing of the OSV cluster. The association, which represents 8,000 employees and 550 companies – including Salomon, Rossignol, Fusalp and Millet -, received in 2023 aid of 643,000 euros from the region, its largest contributor, amounting to around 37% of its budget.
The threat was not carried out at this stage and the region and OSV showed their understanding during the presentation on Monday of a “new partnership”. While deeming the initiative of the forum laudable, the president of OSV considered that his organization had made “a mistake” in signing it. “The region has already committed a lot” to sustainable and environmentally friendly Games and its “doubts may have been legitimate at one point,” he added.
Ms. Pernod, for her part, underlined the region’s desire to organize “sustainable” Olympic Games, highlighting “the quality of the file, the work and the consultation carried out”, particularly from an environmental point of view.
