Claude Onesta was back in his good city of Toulouse on March 17, but not for personal convenience. The former coach of the Blues of handball had put on his cap as general manager of high performance at the National Sports Agency (ANS), to formalize a collaboration with Airbus. This agreement should allow French para-athletes to benefit from the aircraft manufacturer’s technology to scrape the seconds or meters that will improve the French balance sheet, in the summer of 2024. Claude Onesta spoke more broadly about the ambitions and the challenges that await the Blues between now and these Olympic and Paralympic Games at home.
What is your assessment of the ANS, after four years of existence?
We are in a permanent emergency, while making sure to bring as many people as possible with us. We can clearly see that it is difficult to transform things against people’s advice. They had to be taken on board. We have made a lot of progress in the support of athletes, in that of coaches, and this in a very innovative way. Support for federations has changed a lot. We target better, we are more effective because we evaluate better. Little by little a dynamic and a form of enthusiasm are being created, which will be essential elements in the improvement of French performance in Paris.
In an interview at West France at the beginning of February, you said that you had “identified 90 medalists, including 30 titles” for the Olympic Games…
If we reached this total in the Olympics, we would almost be in the top three of the standings. We said we were aiming for 5th place, that we wanted to get closer to it. We were at 33 medals in Tokyo (including 10 gold, which ranked France 8th among nations with the worst total since 2004). If we are going towards objectives of 60 or 70, it’s still huge for the Olympics.
Why aim for this 5th place?
Because it is always necessary to have objectives to locate and evaluate oneself. We were 7th, we are now 8th. This means that we tend, little by little, to drop out, which justified the creation of the ANS to transform the model. We are on track with the mission entrusted to us, that is to say, we are transforming so that it is more operational and more efficient.
5th place in Tokyo, she is more than 60 medals (71 charms, including 20 gold for the Russian Olympic Committee). When you are at 33 medals and you say that three years later you are aiming for 5th place, this can be perceived as an extreme claim, or a crazy dream, an illusion. We build every day which will allow us to no longer make it a dream, but a reality.
And for the Paralympic Games ?
France is now 14th in the nations ranking (54 medals in Tokyo, including 11 gold). The idea is also to get closer to this famous 5th place. At first, we said 8th. When you see the results that are improving from competition to competition, you end up thinking that 5th position might not be too far away. But the goal is not only to rise in the ranking of nations in Paris, but above all to settle in the long term, to build the path that will make you perform for the following Olympiads and Paralympiads.
Do you put pressure on the athletes to get the missing medals?
An athlete who has no pressure is not an athlete. You live with pressure when you’re in high-level sport. It’s not a dirty word. It is also what allows you to generate fuel to go further, to seek to do better. That said, there is no need to put pressure on French athletes who see the Games coming to them. The pressure is there naturally, it will continue to mount, with the feeling of a country that supports you. It has a galvanizing effect that will be a springboard for athletes.
How are the athletes doing?
Better than ever, frankly. All these devices that we have put in place around them… This applies to the athletes but also to the coaches who say: “we have never been listened to so much, nor accompanied as you do”. It’s easier for me because it was my job, I understand better what some may feel. A coach who believes in it even more strongly, he trains an athlete to believe in it even more strongly.
We can clearly see in the intermediate competitions that the positioning of the French has changed, that they are more conquering. Look at the French rugby team, they are one of those people who have suddenly climbed the ladder and have the feeling that nothing can happen to them, that there is no impossible solution. We are in it, and we weigh on it every day so that it becomes a spiral of success.
Are there any Federations you are concerned about?
No. Finally, there are federations for which we would have liked more progress. But we are also very aware that French sport, like sport in general, is a world that is difficult to change because there is a lot of culture, history, habits…
We knew very quickly that the athletes we would have in Paris would be 90% of the athletes we already had in Tokyo. To have better results with practically the same athletes, you have to work a lot more on the environment, on confidence… Indeed, I have the feeling that our athletes are getting better and better because they feel better and better supported . And, I repeat, the pressure exerted in the run-up to the Paris Games is more experienced as positive pressure.
However, some federations are more medal providers than others…
There are especially federations more exposed than others. For handball, which I know well, you can be exceptionally good like in Tokyo, and get two gold medals out of the two possible medals. Except that when you look at athletics and swimming, each of these disciplines has 150 medals to distribute. Inevitably, some “federates” will have more influence than others on the final result.