Europe 1 with AFP 9:18 p.m., January 16, 2023
France is a candidate for the organization, in 2024, of the second edition of Olympic Esports Week, a sort of "Olympic Games of virtual sports", the government announced on Monday.
Several ministers including the Minister of Sports Amélie Oudéa-Castera met Monday at the e-sport ecosystem to make this announcement.
Video games are now an integral part of culture and the Government is pursuing its desire to make France a major player in the sector.
France has thus decided to apply for the organization of Olympic Esports Week, the Olympic Games of video games, in 2024.
"In the wake of the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Paris-2024, we will try to host Olympic Esports Week at the end of 2024 with the desire to further strengthen the bridges between sport and esport", announced Monday in Paris the Minister of Sports. Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, at the conclusion of a "workshop" bringing together the actors of the French esports ecosystem.
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Bid Committee
A bid committee has been officially launched for this purpose and will be co-led by the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), the Interministerial Delegation for Major Sporting Events, the Paris & Co incubator, with the participation of the organization of the Paris Olympics.
It will be coordinated by Matthieu Péché, manager of the Vitality esports team on the Counter-Strike video game, and also bronze medalist in Rio in 2016 in canoeing.
The project will be presented to public actors in the spring of 2023.
The Olympic esports week is a new event launched by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and which brings together several virtual sports competitions.
The first edition of this Olympic week will be held in Singapore for four days next June.