The Tokyo Olympics should no longer be "a goal in their own right" but "become part of the Paris preparation movement" 2024, says Claude Onesta, the high performance manager at the National Sports Agency (ANS ), in an interview on Wednesday with the Republican Lorrain .
The Tokyo Olympics, which were to take place this summer, have been postponed for a year, to the summer of 2021, due to the coronavirus epidemic, an unprecedented decision which has radically changed the preparation of athletes and federations in in view of this deadline.
Postponing the 2020 Olympics to the following year will be expensive, very expensive via @ 20minutesSport https://t.co/CqlWonYbm5
- 20 Minutes Sport (@ 20minutesSport) March 26, 2020“Today we have to say that Tokyo is no longer a goal in its own right. I consider that Tokyo has entered the cycle of preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, ”says Claude Onesta.
"In our opinion, this stage in Tokyo, for many athletes, must be a springboard for Paris at all costs," added the former coach of the France handball team. “The message is: we don't prepare Tokyo for everything to stop afterwards. We are preparing Tokyo in the Paris preparation movement, which is the maximum objective of French sport. "
"Starting action two years from the Games is ridiculous"
The head of the very high level at the ANS, created in April 2019 to embody a new model and the ambitions of France at the Paris Olympics, believes that given the deadlines, it would be illusory to start preparing for the Games of 2024 only after Tokyo.
"If we start the Paris project the day after Tokyo 2021, we will lose another year more, and we will really start the action two years from the Games, which is ridiculous. I think we have to be very focused on Paris already, and Tokyo is becoming a stage in the progression. Everything must be thought of in this way, ”underlines Claude Onesta.
Priority to young people
This could thus have consequences for the athletes selected in Tokyo: if the medalists will of course be accompanied, even if they have to stop their careers immediately after, "all the actors at the" intermediate "level, which we think they are not very likely in Tokyo, it will be better that they are younger and on the way to Paris, than people who are in the terminal phase of activity, "he underlined.
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