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Jacques Chirac, who died on September 26, 2019 , maintained during his twelve years of presidency (1995-2007) a complex relationship to sports. Under his two mandates, some of the greatest French exploits took place, including the 1998 World Cup of Footballers.
More than any other president of the Fifth French Republic, Jacques Chirac had a sporty look. But did he like sport? Not really, says a Michel Platini who accompanies him to Brazil in 1997. " The sport does not interest him too much , then ensures the former star of French football. But he has great admiration for athletes .
Under his presidency, two Olympic champions, former fencer Jean-François Lamour and former athlete Guy Drut, became sports ministers. But his admiration goes mostly to sumotoris, the practitioners of this Japanese martial art. So much so that one of his dogs was called "Sumo".
In 2005, during one of his many trips to Japan, he attended the spring tournament in the city of Osaka.
Unusual sequences
Jacques Chirac is less familiar with other sports. In 1995, he received at the presidential palace of the Elysee handball players, just crowned world champions. To the best of them, Jackson Richardson, he asks " Do you speak French ? The president thought he was dealing with a naturalized man.
Another sequence: before the final of the 1998 World Cup football, while the speaker of the Stade de France sings the names of the "Blues", the movement of the lips of the Head of State is unequivocal: he does not know them . It does not prevent him from participating in the party, after the 3-0 win against Brazil, and to hand the trophy to the captain, Didier Deschamps.
Jacques Chirac hands the World Cup of football to the "Blues" in 1998
In the same place, in 2002, on the occasion of the final of the Coupe de France football, ulcerated by the whistles of some supporters of Bastia during the national anthem, he left the official platform before convening the television. " Some irresponsible thought they must whistle La Marseillaise . It's unacceptable and unacceptable, "he says. That day, Jacques Chirac refuses to shake hands with the players, considering that at the Stade de France, one of the symbols of France had just been flouted.
Incident during a football match: the anger of Jacques Chirac