This afternoon, at the National Sports Museum in Nice, a conference on mountain sports and their practices was held. A seventh edition that makes its director Marie Grasse proud, happy to see the journalism school present in large numbers.
The Nice National Sports Museum hosted this afternoon, a conference on mountain sports. Several specialists were present. The eighth edition opened with a speech by Georges Vigarello at 2:30 pm. The first part focused on the benefits of well-being.
Thirty minutes later, it was Paul Diestchy’s turn to take the microphone. A journey to Annapurna for a documentary on the first 8000 or heroism for sports heritage. A second speech that resonated little with the youth, most of whom were occupied elsewhere…
The first part of the conference ended around 4:00 pm, time for a tie-break before diving back into the heart of the mountain. A mountain invested by sports activity, traces, and objects.
A uniqueness well described by Yvan Gastau. This year, he declares “we talk about mountains and the Azurian mountains are invested by sports activity. Not only the well-known sports activities, but also the extreme ones. We realize that the mountain is in all its dimensions a land of sports practice. This is a very important element today, we also try to document it in the past.”
Since 2011, he realized that sport has a heritage dimension, but also a cultural one. “It brings together around events, places… that say something about society.”
His ambition is to explore how in our region, in Nice, in the Maritime Alps, on the Promenade des Anglais, sport has been practiced, or is being practiced.”
As a historian, he brings out archives, images, testimonies that come to tell these stories. Yvan’s goal is to show that the Côte d’Azur is a land of sport. This evening, to talk about it, he declares that several great sports figures will be present (ultra-trailers, parasnowboarders) or people who have practiced canyoning.
Where did the idea for such a conference come from?
The idea for the heritage conference comes from STAPS and more specifically from Jean-Paul de Rey and Yvan Coste.
According to Marie Grasse, director of the Sports Museum, they had the idea to organize this type of event in connection with the museum, at the time when the museum was about to arrive in Nice. The first conference, 7 years ago, took place, the museum was not yet there. After that, she says, the museum got into the rhythm.
Why such a conference?
For the museum, the interest of organizing a conference of this kind is to be in connection with STAPS, with academic researchers and students who can work or be interested in the sports field.
It turns out that this heritage conference revolves around collections or themes that are dear to the museum.
Why skiing?
This year, skiing, because in other years, there have been outdoor sports, architecture, and sport. Here, the subject, according to Marie Grasse, is broader than just skiing. The goal is to stay local. To discover all this heritage. For the museum director, it is important to bring back and especially highlight lost, forgotten heritage. Here we have 400,000 documents, and 10,000 concern winter sports.
The journalism school present
The journalism school is professional in these interviews, in its way of filming and putting the conference online. It’s an important link. For the museum director “This allows young journalists to get into the heat of the action.”
The heat of the action that will have to continue throughout today’s stage in Auron.
