Ivan Coste-Manière, President of the Côte d’Azur Regional Olympic Committee, is one of the main figures in the regional and Côte d’Azur sports scene.
An accomplished athlete (track and field), he participates in various international sports organizations.
Paris has been designated by the IOC as the host city for the 2024 Games. How did you experience this announcement?
Intense relief, and in a way a sense of satisfaction from the work accomplished. But also a feeling of an adrenaline rush considering the enormity of the missions to be fulfilled very quickly and over the next 7 years that separate us from this long-dreamt reality. There is fantasy and enjoyment… It is our responsibility as representatives of the Olympic and sports movement to meet these expectations, to continue harnessing energies… to make them as positive, fertile, and dynamic as possible. And now a serene optimism with a “sophronic” motivation. The Côte d’Azur CROS will have a significant role with its undeniable representativeness, even during the period of merger due to the implementation of the NOTRe law, considering that the elected officials from the Côte d’Azur represent a cohort ready for action, with significant Federation Presidents or members of the boards of national organizations such as COSMOS, the CREPS PACA, and its Grand INSEP labels, etc. Personally, I am delighted to be involved with the French National Olympic Academy, the French Pierre de Coubertin Circle, and especially as Vice-President of the Francophone Association of Olympic Academies. The Games, our Games, must continue to rely on all energies and networks.
Looking back, what feelings does this long candidacy campaign, with its moments of uncertainty and hope, evoke in you?
My first reaction is akin to a form of relief. Four unsuccessful bids almost lead to… a fear of victory. Not for an athlete… Never. This mindset forged by training, competitions, victories, and defeats was what was missing in our previous bids. And I have never experienced these fluctuations of optimism… which could have negatively influenced the result. I mentioned “sophronization” earlier. We believed in it, the CROS, the CDOS, the clubs, the athletes, those of every day as well as those on Sundays.
And despite this feeling of ‘finally’ relief, I don’t forget the magnitude of the challenge, considering that many countries and cities worldwide also dream of hosting the Olympics and that we are fortunate to be part of the very exclusive circle of repeat Olympic hosts… Three ‘victories’ bring even greater responsibilities. Paris 2024, our Games, must be a total success, as well as the launch of a genuine society project.
What were the decisive factors for Paris’s victory?
The coherence of the bid. Dense, solid, backed up, refined by previous failures, by the wealth of information accumulated over the past 25 years… since Albertville and the real and unchanging modernization of the Games. Even the unsuccessful bids of Nice or Annecy… at any level have enriched this file. Furthermore, I just returned from a conference on Economic Intelligence and Influence, with our friends Jacqueline Sala, Editor-in-Chief of Veille Magazine, and Benjamin Lehiany, Scientific Director of the MSc. International Strategy & Influence at SKEMA Business School on this topic, the levers, the lobbies, the influences, the key facts… For once, egos knew how to be silent. The narrative immediately became apolitical, monolithic and coherent, athletic… A demonstration of Olympic values, from the descendants of Coubertin. And I add the unequivocal recognition of the stars, the athletes who have carried the standard, saber in hand, of those who knew to be at the level of our friend Lord Sebastian Coe, with of course the exceptional Tony Estanguet at the forefront…
For Paris, does organizing the Games represent an opportunity or a risk?
With such a closed question, it’s impossible to give a straightforward answer. Of course, there’s a risk, but it’s of a much smaller scale than those taken by Athens in 2004 or Rio in 2016. The existence of multiple structures and facilities is reassuring, and it helps to reduce the investment budgets and risks. I prefer to see primarily an abundance of opportunities, which address us all.
An opportunity for our “country of human rights” to finally raise the voice of equal opportunities: the Paralympic Games, in Paris, must be the turning point of this equality often mentioned and so frequently postponed. An athlete is an athlete, with their dedication, courage, and greatness…
An opportunity to revive an ambitious, positive, and conquering dynamic for our country, which must dream bigger, rediscover color, and radiate that omnipresent smile across the Francophone world where the word “leadership” has not yet found a true synonym in French. A real springboard for the Francophone Association of Olympic Academies and other structures concerned with the Francophonie.
An opportunity for the territories, for the facilities, infrastructures, sports installations, local communities, and practicing or non-practicing licensees in each of the areas irrigated by a Games event, whatever the discipline, and all disciplines combined.
An opportunity for sustainable development and the appointment of the Interministerial Delegate to the Games, who is at the interface of …17 Ministries, which comes at an opportune time this past September 13th.
An opportunity for the Olympic and sporting movement, for health, for intergenerational balance, for companies…
Will this nomination change the image France has of sport?
When I mentioned health, I was, among other things, alluding to this. Restoring the prestige of sports in schools, as is the case with our Scandinavian or German neighbors. Professional, hygienic, and psychological performance requires sports. The performance of employees at the company level, as well as that of citizens at the national level, also needs it? The Baron of Coubertin is not just a simple postcard image to be dusted off during an Olympic bid. Olympism is not an outdated and old-fashioned philosophy. A philosophy must be lived, developed, and amplify results. It is urgent that France aim higher, further, stronger, that complaints give way to ambitions and victories, thanks to the greatest school of life and leisure.
We have 7 years to place sports at the heart of society, in our daily lives, and to share our Olympic values of excellence, friendship, and respect with everyone
