French biathlon star Fourcade withdraws bid to head French Alps 2030 Olympic organizing committee

By Canadian Press on February 3, 2025.

PARIS (AP) — French biathlon star Martin Fourcade has withdrawn his candidacy to be president of the organising committee of the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Fourcade said he ended his bid because of divergences with the stakeholders of the French project.

“There are still too many differences of opinion to be able to contemplate this mission calmly. The mode of governance, the vision, the territorial roots: we have not been able to find common ground on these fundamental issues,” Fourcade wrote in an email to the members of the future executive committee of the 2030 Games seen by The Associated Press.

The organizing committee is due to be announced later this month and Fourcade was seen as the front runner to be named president after getting the support of French President Emmanuel Macron.

The 2030 Winter Games already is on the tightest time scale of any modern Olympics, with just 5 1/2 years between the hosting award last July and the opening ceremony. Olympic rules used to require the host to be picked seven years in advance, and Salt Lake City also was picked in Paris last July more than nine years before its 2034 Winter Games open.

L’Equipe newspaper reported that Fourcade was particularly upset by the decision to set up the headquarters of the organizing committee near Lyon. The city is close to the Alps but its identity is far remote from the mountains.

“My ambition for these Games is clear: they must be in step with the times, fully aware of ecological issues and rooted in our country’s economic reality. That’s why I believe it’s essential to organise these Games in a mountain region,” Fourcade wrote. “I believe that it is essential to enable all the players involved to understand the specific characteristics of today’s mountains if we are to fully grasp the challenges of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. I regret that this vision is not shared by all the players involved.”

The 36-year-old Fourcade moved on to Olympic politics after a glorious biathlon career during which he won six Olympic gold medals. He was elected in 2022 to be an IOC member by fellow athletes and was part of the organizing committee of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The French bid for the 2030 Games was the only candidate and is a project centered on ski resorts in the French Alps and ice sports venues in the coastal city Nice.

France previously hosted the Winter Games three times: the inaugural 1924 edition in Chamonix, 1968 in Grenoble and 1992 in Albertville.

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AP Sports Writer Graham Dunbar contributed to this report.

Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press