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00:00French sports people are speaking out about a planned budget cut to the sports sector
00:05less than six months after the memorable Olympic and Paralympic Games.
00:09The government plans to cut funding by 33% compared to last year,
00:14though sports represented just 0.2% of the budget.
00:18It's prompted over 400 athletes to sign an open letter in French sports newspaper L'Equipe.
00:24Well, I'm joined on set by Ayodele Ikusa, who's a French sprinter.
00:28You're one of them who's really angry about this decision by the French government.
00:32A few examples were given in that open letter in L'Equipe,
00:36but could you just tell us and our audience what concretely,
00:40what would the consequences be for this cut in funding?
00:44So the consequences is that in sports in France,
00:49the COBS is working with volunteers mainly.
00:53And so it's going to impact all sectors.
00:56So the federations also, all the athletes,
01:00the support they're having from the federation, from the ministry.
01:04And those athletes, they spoke and they wrote a tribune
01:09because for the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games,
01:13there were a major financial support
01:17and there were major companies that helped them and to support them.
01:21There were many sponsors that wanted to be part of the Olympic adventure.
01:24And so the sports and athletes,
01:27they don't want to go back to a period that we knew before the Olympic Games,
01:31which we were talking about poverty.
01:34We were talking about depression among athletes.
01:37We were talking about the volunteer support and in clubs.
01:40Well, you have those people just they're working, they're helping.
01:45They're really helpful, but they don't have any contract.
01:48And so that's the main point of the tribune saying
01:53that we should not go back to where we were before.
01:57French people were really happy about the Olympic Games.
02:01We were behind our athletes.
02:04We were very proud of them, very proud of all the medals that they won.
02:08And now the thing is that we shouldn't just forget everything
02:13and go back to, as you said, a budget of the sport ministry
02:18that is 0.2% of the whole French budget, which is really low already.
02:25So we believe that even though the situation is not the best that we knew,
02:30those cuts are not a good signal for the sport industry
02:34and for the French people and all the athletes that won medals this summer.
02:39And you mentioned the Olympics and Paralympics.
02:41It was hoped actually that those games would be a turning point for sports in France.
02:46Macron put in place what he called legacy measures.
02:51And now all of this is happening under the newly appointed sports minister,
02:55Marie Barasek.
02:56She was actually the impact and legacy executive director
03:00of the Games Organising Committee.
03:02I'm sure you see that as quite ironic.
03:04Yeah, it's quite ironic.
03:06But like some athletes, we talked before,
03:10we spoke out before the end of the Olympics,
03:12and we were talking before the Olympics already saying
03:15that we should be really concerned and very vigilant about this legacy
03:20because we were raising issues in sport before the Olympic Games,
03:25and we were saying, okay, so we had more money
03:28because we had to organise those Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in France.
03:32And we were waiting for any guarantees that would show that we have a real legacy.
03:39Well, it's a politic issue, and it's a politic fight
03:43because as the athletes are saying in this Tribune,
03:48France is not a sport nation,
03:51and this was like a debate that we used to have in the previous years
03:55and the previous months and also during the Olympics.
03:58And yeah, it is quite ironic because it's a political fight with the prime minister
04:04because he does not believe that sport is useful for the society,
04:09and that's why they are proposing those budget cuts
04:13because they think that we're just asking more means
04:18because the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games is over,
04:21which is not the case.
04:23The case is that we believe that this ecosystem needs more funds
04:27because we're talking about federation, talking about clubs,
04:30we're talking about associative organisation,
04:35and we know that sport, physical activity, is helpful
04:40and is helpful to reduce diseases like cardiovascular diseases, cancer.
04:47It helps increasing productivity.
04:50It helps the well-being.
04:52It helps a lot of things, and so this is the fight that we're now facing.
04:57And yes, I know it's quite ironic because our minister of sport was in P2024 team,
05:06but you saw Macron.
05:08Macron said that he agrees with the athletes, that he promised a legacy.
05:13So my advice would be for him to speak to his prime minister
05:19and make sure that we don't have those budget cuts.
05:22Well, exactly.
05:23I mean, do you have faith that there can be an agreement
05:26after Macron has come out and said, OK, you're right?
05:29I don't know.
05:31I know that Senator Michel Savant proposed an amendment
05:35that was voted in the Senate increasing the sport betting tax
05:41that could just provide $113 million to the sports ministry project.
05:49And there's another amendment that was adopted in the Senate also.
05:54The first thing is that we hope that those amendments will not be rejected
06:00in the joint committee coming in the end of this month.
06:06But I don't know.
06:07We need actions.
06:08We need acts.
06:09So he spoke in the news.
06:12He said that, OK, he agrees that he promised a legacy,
06:15so now we're waiting for this legacy.
06:18And it's a huge tribune, 425 athletes signing a tribune.
06:25You had another tribune from Londès with more than 6,000 people
06:29who signed this tribune, which means that, yeah,
06:32we know that there's massive budget cuts not only in sports,
06:36you have in education, in health, in culture.
06:39And so what we're saying is that those things jeopardize our public services
06:44and we need to fight collegiately against it.
06:48Right.
06:49Well, we'll be covering this story as it develops.
06:50I'm sure.
06:51Ayodele Ikussan, thank you very much for speaking to us on France 24.