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The former basketball player resigned from her position as ambassador for the Paris Olympic Games. A mission she has held since November 2021.
An Instagram story that cost him his job. Former French basketball player Emilie Gomis had to leave her role as ambassador for Paris 2024 on Wednesday January 10, according to a press release from the organizing committee for the Olympic Games. It was chosen in November 2021 as part of the Terre de Jeux label to promote the mobilization of all territories in France around the Paris Olympic Games. A mission which ended after a controversy sparked on October 9 and a message posted on his social networks. Franceinfo summarizes this affair for you in five acts.
1 She speaks out on the war between Israel and Hamas
The starting point of this affair took place two days after the deadly attacks perpetrated by Hamas on October 7. Emilie Gomis publishes a story on her Instagram account, followed by more than 15,000 people. We see maps of France from 1947, 1967 and 2023, on which the tricolor flag covering France is gradually replaced by the Israeli flag. The illustration is accompanied by this question: “What would you do in this situation?”
This message remains online for 24 hours, before the former basketball player deletes it. A gesture which is not enough to defuse the controversy: the organizing committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojo) refers the matter to the ethics committee. Indeed, the Paris 2024 ethics charter recommends that members and employees of the organization respect “a duty of reserve in their public expression”.
2 She apologizes but doesn’t convince
Almost two months later, on November 30, the sportswoman apologized on the social network : “My story from October 9 sparked many reactions and emotion that I understand. I apologize to those who felt hurt. In these difficult times, my thoughts go out to all the innocent victims affected by wars and acts barbarians that are multiplying in the world. The accusations of anti-Semitism that I face are in total contradiction with the values that were instilled in me and those that sport taught me.”.
The reaction of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (Crif) was not long in coming: a few days later, it declared that this “message of explanation did nothing to appease” polemic. He immediately demands that the player be “removal from her position as ambassador of Paris 2024”. We also learn that the president of Crif spoke a few days earlier with Amélie Oudéa-Castera, the Minister of Sports, “to express his indignation”.
3 The ethics committee recommends its exclusion
Emilie Gomis’ apologies are also not enough for the Paris 2024 ethics committee, which is recommending her exclusion on Monday December 11. A simple opinion, supposed to help the organizing committee make a definitive decision on his case. The authority justifies this by the fact that the publication of October 9 “clearly refers to events concerning the State of Israel and Palestine, in particular the Gaza Strip, notably the plan for the partition of Palestine by the United Nations in 1947, the Six-Day War and the vote on United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 in 1967.. The committee goes even further, considering that this message may suggest “that the France of 2023, whose map is dominated by the Star of David, is also ‘invaded byr the Jews'”.
The next day, Emilie Gomis reacted via her lawyers, in a long press release. She recognizes “a post full of awkwardness”but makes explicit its desire to“to fuel a debate of general interest on the problem of colonization”. Furthermore, she considers herself “dishonored and defamed by the accusations of anti-Semitism of which she is a victim” and let it be known that she “does not intend to resign from his functions”. Above all, she is indignant at not having been “at no time invited to express themselves”.
4 She reiterates her apologies in “L’Equipe”
The sportswoman’s counter-offensive continues on Saturday December 23 in an interview given to The Team. Denouncing a “witch hunt”the ex-basketball player affirms that she did not “in no way (…) wanted to legitimize what Hamas had done”. She adds : “This October 9, I reacted with emotion, my story was hurtful to some, I recognize it. I reiterate my apologies.“ Apologies that she declares she also addressed to the Minister of Sports, Oudéa-Catésréa, in a letter sent earlier.
But here again, Emilie Gomis does not convince. At the end of December, David Lappartient, the president of the ethics committee of the French national Olympic and sports committee (CNOSF), decided to propose the removal of the former basketball player for “proven violation of ethical principles”. She was then ousted from the CNSOF athletes’ commission, according to information from the weekly Point.
5 Emilie Gomis leaves her position permanently
Fifteen days later, the sentence falls. The Paris 2024 general assembly, meeting on Wednesday January 10, “considered that this publication contravened its duty of neutrality and no longer allowed it to carry out its missions calmly”explains a press release. “Emilie Gomis, in a shared concern for appeasement and responsibility, wished to present her resignation from her mandate as member of the board of directors and ambassador of the Terre de Jeux 2024 label to Paris 2024, which takes note of this”specifies the document.
After hearing Emilie Gomis and her lawyers, “the members of the board of directors and the general assembly were thus able to note that Emilie Gomis condemned the attacks of October 7 in Israel, any form of anti-Semitism or discrimination, contrary to its values. Emilie Gomis also shared her regrets regarding her publication and apologized.” The organizing committee also welcomes in his message “the remarkable journey of Emilie Gomis as an athlete, but also her commitments to promoting youth sporting activity and the values of sport and Olympism”.