Saturday evening, during the broadcast on France 2 of the program “Quelle époque!”, Teddy Riner was moved to have only two places available for his loved ones on the day of his tests, namely for him on August 2 for its individual competition in the 100kg category and August 3 for the mixed team tournament. “I’m fighting every day to get places,” said the three-time Olympic champion. “Despite everything I have brought to the federation and the champion that I am, I only have the right to two places.”
An outing which called for a response, the next day via social networks, from the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castéra: “Don’t worry Teddy Riner, you will have six places for your entourage, for each of your sessions. » And she then clarified: “The Ministry of Sports, with the CNOSF, offers all French athletes four places for each athlete for each of the sessions where he/she is competing. For the State, this represents an effort of more than 1.6 million euros.” Four places are therefore added to the two normally allocated by each federation to their representatives, for a total of six. Which will not be a maximum, but a minimum.
Thus, Stéphane Nomis, the president of the French judo federation, affirmed after the exit of the gondola head of his discipline: “With all the affection and respect that I have for Teddy Riner, as for all our champions who, I remind you, are going to collect ten medals in Paris, I cannot let him say that without reacting,” he confided to Le Parisien. “As for the Judo Federation, we are offering two more, which will allow our athletes to benefit from 8 places per session. So yes, we assume that we are only offering “two” more to the athletes, as Teddy Riner points out, especially since the Federation and the French State are doing a lot for athletes who have never been so well supported , at all levels. And Teddy too.”
It is then difficult to take stock of the situation, discipline by discipline, for each athlete. Especially since several data can be taken into account, such as the capacity of the different speakers, the number of places already sold or, let’s not lie, the reputation of the sportsman or sportswoman concerned. But what seems certain is that everyone, whatever their status, will be able to invite six relatives to follow their performances in the stadium, the swimming pool or elsewhere.
