Milan, Feb 21: We’ve got this. Really, we do.
Organisers of the 2030 French Alps Olympics worked Saturday to put a positive sheen on their project that already was on the tightest of hosting schedules before being rocked by inner turmoil.
“We’re confident in our capacity to deliver these games in 2030 with a high degree of excellence,” said Edgar Grospiron, the former Olympic champion freestyle skier who leads the organising committee.
The French Alps is officially next up on Sunday evening after a formal handover of the Olympic flag to its sports and public officials at the Milan Cortina Winter Games closing ceremony, being staged in Verona.
Hours earlier, the French organising committee holds a board meeting amid tension between Grospiron and his director general, Cyril Linette, who is set to be the latest executive exit from a team launched just one year ago.
Grospiron acknowledged the “turbulence” Saturday at the traditional Olympic news conference for the next games host.
“For these games to be successful we do need stability, serenity, continuity and the organising committee needs this,” he said.
“We want to show the whole world, but also particularly the French, and I am sure that they will really see the worth of what we’ve done,” Grospiron further added.
The French Alps Winter Games – with speed skating destined to go abroad, at Turin in Italy, or Heerenveen in the Netherlands, where venues already exist – has always been on the tightest timeline of any modern Olympics. (AP)
