In Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis), the prospect of renovation work on the Maurice-Thorez swimming pool, with a view to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer of 2024, does not only upset the inhabitants of the town or the local club. of swimming. They will also deprive the divers and divers 10 m from the French team of their place of training in the Ile-de-France for several months, forcing them to go into exile, including abroad.
“There are no other 10m diving boards in Ile-de-France. We knew this problem would happen, but not so soon., told Agence France Presse the national technical director (DTN) of the French swimming federation (FFN), Julien Issoulié. Work on the development of the nautical stadium – which will notably host water polo training during the Games – was to begin in September. But they were finally anticipated and will start at the end of March.
This situation has brought out of its hinges the former European diving champion, Benjamin Auffret, now retired, who was indignant at this scenario. “The Olympics at home are every 100 years. Now our athletes, our divers who have worked all their lives for this are being deprived of their place of training one year from this event. And we’re going to ask them for medals.”he tweeted.
… 🤦🏻♂️ The Olympic Games at home are every 100 years. Now our athletes, our divers who have worked all their… https://t.co/srVn5d0LHH
After several days of negotiations between the FFN and the National Sports Agency, a solution was however found. “We tried to rethink the training and preparation program. There will be a mix with longer internships than expected, particularly in Strasbourg, and with new sites such as Aix-la-Chapelle in Germany.”, explains Julien Issoulié. The costs generated by this new training program will be borne by the ANS, assures the DTN, which says “really happy to have found a solution”.
For the inhabitants of Montreuil, the local club and schoolchildren, on the other hand, bringing the swimming pool up to federal and Olympic standards is synonymous with virtual deprivation of swimming until September 2024: they will no longer have access to only one infrastructure, the Murs-à-Pêches swimming pool, with its 25-meter pool and its learning pool, where they will have to go to neighboring towns, which poses transport and supervision problems.