On Tuesday evening, at the National Sports Museum, Médéric Chapitaux gave a lecture on radicalization in sports. An unknown subject until recently, the researcher demonstrated that sports can help detect future radicalized individuals.
Médéric Chapitaux has 15 years of experience in the gendarmerie, years at the Ministry of Sports, and at the National Kick-Boxing Directorate, so for him, security and sports issues are one and the same. On Tuesday evening, under the impetus of Philippe Manassero, president of the departmental Olympic committee, he held a conference on the theme of radicalization in sports. The aim is to prevent, inform, and present the research work conducted by the doctoral student, who claims that all terrorists have a connection with sports. None of them turned due to the practice, but all have interacted with various sports environments. The purpose of the conference is to lift the veil of ignorance on a serious subject. “I want the actors in the structures to distinguish the signs of shifts. Then, they can report them to the competent authorities,” explains Médéric Chapitaux.
“There is a societal urgency, and sports are no exception”
From the Kouachi brothers to the terrorist of the Hyper Cacher or the one from Nice, all have a common denominator: sports. All came from clubs, specifically combat sports. Or in team sports, like the one who killed the priest in Saint-Étienne du Rouvray. Whether as licensed members or sports educators. Being on a watchlist is not a barrier to joining a sports structure. A gap in the system, as the lecturer likes to remind. “This is not normal and is no longer acceptable. But a report is not a crime or a conviction. And we can’t just blame everyone. We must find a network to identify and train people to accept this issue,” theorizes the former gendarme. He is also organizing two training sessions in Nice on February 12 and 13, before spreading his knowledge elsewhere in France. “The conference and training days have allowed us to tackle these themes head-on. It is a new phenomenon that we must grasp, and these days must raise awareness and address these problems. Since the 2016 attacks, we have changed our perception, and for two years, we have been trying to understand and make others understand these subjects,” the president of the departmental Olympic committee proudly states.
Vigilance at all levels
Combat sports are the most affected, but they are far from isolated cases. While these offer combat training and/or interactions with violent individuals, team sports are also very prevalent, football in particular, which, due to its universality, allows for meeting and networking. Edouard Delamotte, president of the Côte-d’Azur district, is well aware of this: “The French federation is a very large structure. We did not discover the problem of radicalism today. However, how to dissect and approach it, yes. We have, here in the department, the means to detect young people who are at risk of leaving for jihad. In Nice, we have had cases of young people leaving, and now they are trained. We must continue the network within the district to prevent this from happening again.”
