Twelfth in the last Vendée Globe and first woman to finish (with the passing of the new women’s record for this solo non-stop round the world race), Clarisse Crémer will not be able to take the start of the next edition in 2024. Banque Populaire comes to tell her that she would be replaced at the helm by another skipper because she wouldn’t have enough points to qualify after her baby break. “I am in shock,” wrote the sailor, who gave birth last November, on her Instagram account.
For its part, the banking group calls into question the change in the qualification rules decided by the organizers. For the next edition, 14 places out of a total of 40 will be reserved for new boats, the thirty or so other applicants having to win one of the 26 tickets at stake by accumulating a maximum of points in a period from winter 2021 to the end of summer 2024. A system necessarily disadvantageous for women wishing to have a baby, between the time of pregnancy and that of maternity leave.
“On this criterion, I of course fell behind the other competitors at the start, this maternity having prevented me from being present in the qualifying races for a year”, writes Clarisse Crémer in her message, before noting that However, he still had time: “There were 2 full seasons and 4 transatlantic races left to get back up to speed, I was fully equipped to finish my rehabilitation as quickly as possible. »
Real social debate
For its part, Banque Populaire claims to have tried everything with the organization so as not to have to drop its navigator. “Several solutions have been proposed so that the regulations take into account the situation of women in the Vendée Globe and the question of maternity, writes the group in a statement. All these proposals, as well as the requests for the allocation of a wildcard guarantee, have been rejected, and this is regrettable. »
Joined by AFP, the organizers of the Vendée Globe indicated that they would publish a press release later in the day. There remains the substance of the subject, that of motherhood among high-level sportswomen. Many disciplines, as we have seen again recently with the OL football club, are late on the issue. “What does equality mean for women? To behave in every respect like men and therefore above all not to be pregnant? If I speak today, it is not out of revenge, to attract attention or make me feel sorry for myself, but to provoke reflection, and in the hope of making our society progress”, writes the sailor again.