The Paris 2024 Organising Committee held its first Board Meeting at Bourget, close to the French capital, last Friday 2 March. The organisation has 40 members so far, including members from the sports movement: Organising Committee President Tony Estanguet, IOC Members Guy Drut and Jean-Christophe Rolland, CNOSF President Denis Masseglia and CNOSF Secretary General Jean-Michel Brun , French Paralympic Committee President Emmanuelle Assmann, CNOSF Vice President Sarah Ourahmoune, National Handball Federation President Joël Delplanque, as well as the President of CROS Île-de-France Evelyne Cirégi. Other members from civil society, business community and NGOs will be designated at a later date.

The agenda of the first meeting included the assignment of the members, the salary of President Tony Estanguet and the legacy of the Games.

Estanguet also officially announced the names of the 5 athletes who will support him in the organisation of the Games. First and foremost, Martin Fourcade, the five-time Olympic champion in biathlon, who at PyeongChang 2018 became the most successful French athlete in Olympic history, and who will be President of the Athletes’ Commission. Estanguet also appointed him a member of the Board of Directors, together with other four French sports figures: former tennis player Guy Forget, boxer Sarah Ourahmoune, 400-meter Paralympic champion Nantenin Keïta, and the former field and track athlete Marie-José Pérec.

In addition to the five French athletes nominated by the President, another 29 members will have voting rights on the Board of Directors. Sports Minister Laura Flessel and the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo are among them, as well as President of Region Ile-de-France Valérie Pécresse and Stéphane Troussel, head of the Seine-Saint-Denis Departmental Council, where the Olympic Village will be located and several events will be held.

Other athletes included are swimmer Fabien Gilot and taekwondo athlete Gwladys Epangue as Co-Chairs of the Athletes Commission. Six other members will hold an advisory capacity as the representatives of the Bernard Thibault trade union organizations.

“It was important to keep athletes at the core of this organisation,” said Estanguet, the three-time Olympic champion who wants the Games “to be of great benefit to the French population”.