He is supposed to be the man who boosts high performance in France, to help our athletes make a splash at the 2024 Olympics at home. But just over a year from the deadline, the message seems to be getting less and less well between Claude Onesta and some of the main executives of the federations, writes AFP on Tuesday.
Several people were thus surprised by the absence of national technical directors (DTN) during the French sports seminar organized at Insep on Monday. It had to be seen as a sign, that of a break up of some of them with the boss of the high level of French sport, according to several sources close to the sports movement interviewed by the press agency.
“The breach of trust is total”
“We have to realize the climate of tension that can exist between us and Claude Onesta and the ANS (National Sports Agency), things are not going well at all. The current is no longer flowing, ”confirms one of the thirty-four French DTNs on condition of anonymity. “The breach of trust is total with the DTNs”, asserts another, again, who prefers to remain anonymous.
“I have never been seized with any concern, I have no problem with the DTNs. If some of them are not necessarily happy, I invite them to come see me to talk about it, my door is always open, assured AFP Claude Onesta. Most DTNs rather thank me for what we do for them. “” No comment, for the moment “, for his part reacted Ludovic Roye, who chairs the association of DTN.
The Olympic Games in Paris are fast approaching, and the objectives set by Emmanuel Macron to finish in the first five nations for these Olympic Games at home seem to make many players in French sport nervous. Several federations have recently gone through deep crises (football, rugby, skating, gym, etc.), just like the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) which, after more than a year and a half of psychodrama, elected the president of the UCI and IOC member David Lappartient to try to end it.
The movement of mood of some DTN, these transmission belts of sports policy in their federations, adds another dimension to this tense atmosphere. Installed at the head of high performance within the ANS, a body which oversees high-level sport in particular, Claude Onesta is responsible for setting the success of French sport to music for these Olympics. An eminently complex task for this successful French hand coach, with a strong character, which can sometimes create tensions.
Abrupt methods and arbitrary choices, according to the dissatisfied
During a meeting last Thursday of the steering committee (Copil) “Winning in France”, the differences of opinion between the association of DTNs and Onesta were brought to light, according to several sources. Presence or not of certain federations within the Olympic village, financial aid that some hope for but do not see coming: the two camps seemed very far apart.
More generally, some criticize Claude Onesta for sometimes abrupt methods, arbitrary choices, relating both to the very functioning of the ANS but also to those of his boss.
“Decisions are made collectively, I am not alone. It’s a fantasy to believe that I decide everything. I can understand that when certain decisions do not go their way, it creates dissatisfaction. But it’s our role, ”assumes the one who had guided the French handball players to two Olympic gold medals (2008, 2012).
“It’s true that Claude is sometimes not easy, but you have to put things into perspective. There is a hard core of DTN a little reassembled, but not all. The Olympics are approaching and nervousness is spreading to all floors,” says an Agency executive. Some subjects are indeed angry, and mainly the financial aspect, since it is via the ANS, which has a budget of nearly 460 million euros this year, that the funds pass to the federations.