Petanque wordt geen olympische sport in 2024
Wellicht is het nieuws al doorgedrongen; petanque wordt geen olympische sport in 2024.
We ontvingen een reactie van de wereldfederatie:
Paris on February 22d, 2019
Ladies and gentlemen, Presidents, dear friends,
You certainly learned Boules Sport was not in the list of four additional sports officially broadcast yesterday, Thursday, February 21st, by the Paris 2024 OCOG and you can imagine how immense is my disappointment, even if the information that some had voluntarily “leaked” for a dozen days, foreshadowed this result.
My disappointment is greater because, over the months, our candidacy took more and more consistency so that the general opinion was we figured prominently among the favorite sports to get this grail for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which, in my opinion, confirmed the interview we had with the OCOG officials in January to present our file, followed by the sending of our arguments and a beautiful video carried out, on the initiative of its director Marc Guérin, by our communication company Lunacom. Unfortunately for us, the demands of each other and international negotiations led OCOG officials to choose the three sports that were added in 2016 to the two proposed by the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee. – surfing, skating and climbing with one event each in women’s and men’s – plus breakdance following the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires last July where, locally, we could not bring the Boccia.
In sport, and whatever the conditions, you have to know how to lose and I congratulate the four lucky ones, in the same way I wanted to put on the same picture, during Sport Accord in Bangkok last April, presidents of candidates sports under the motto: “Candidates but not opponents”. This reminder also allows me to greet representatives of other deserving sports that have not been selected either, including baseball and karate (present in Tokyo), squash, water skiing (with wakeboarding) or billiards. I’d especially thank all those who have invested themselves with a lot of time, energy and, sometimes, resources, as well as the millions of people who have shown their support for the candidacy, from the humblest volunteers to the highest personalities in sports, political or artistic, and worldwide. Without them we would not have been able to achieve what I still consider as a brilliant achievement in communication and I hope they’ll be with us again in the coming months and years.
All this allows me to tell you this announcement related to the 2024 Olympics is not an end, as would not be more an end the presence of Boules Sport on the list of additional sports. It is for us, at the same time, to draw the lessons of this meritorious and active campaign to better organize our sport and to inscribe it in a perspective of modernity and conquest; and take advantage of the excitement it has created by raising the profile of our sport at the highest levels of world and Olympic sport to pursue or reinforce other goals, with your support and participation, by being ready to respond to any solicitation including in the framework of the biggest world events. With my thanks and all my friendships.
Claude Azéma