The list is growing. It already included Germany, the United States and Australia. It now also includes France. In each of these countries, athletes have forced the door to immobility. They obtained a relaxation of rule 40 of the Olympic charter on advertising during the Games period.
The Germans opened the breach last February. The Americans followed suit in October 2019. L'Equipe reveals that France is in turn moving into the modern camp. The Athletes' Commission of the National Olympic Committee (CNOSF) obtained a revision of the text. It will apply from the Tokyo 2020 Games to the entire delegation.
The four-page document, entirely devoted to a new French version of rule 40 of the Olympic charter, must be presented this Tuesday, January 21 to the federations and athletes.
It has been prepared since last June by a battalion of athlete representatives, notably from the CNOSF and the COJO Paris 2024. Among them, a handful of alumni, all Olympic or world medalists: Gwladys Epangue (taekwondo), Fabien Gilot (swimming), Gevrise Emane (judo), Benjamin Lang (rowing), Marie Martinod (freestyle skiing), Astrid and Brice Guyart (fencing).
Like the Americans, the reform appears timid. Everyone knows it in the Olympic world: the IOC is keeping an eye on things. Since the decision of a German court having found the text contrary to competition rules, it can no longer oppose the march of history. But Thomas Bach repeats it tirelessly: there is no question of throwing rule 40 in its entirety. The institution's global partners, the only ones authorized to use the rings, must retain their privileges.
In fact, French athletes will now be able to thank each of their sponsors once during the period during which rule 40 applies, namely ten days before the opening of the Games and two days after their closing (July 14 to August 11, 2020). They will be able to do this on their personal websites and on social networks.
More Team specifies: they will remain prohibited from taking a photo of themselves in the athletes' village with their medal, and even more so from using the Olympic rings in their advertising message. The expressions Olympic Games, Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 will also be prohibited.
In its new version, rule 40 will also authorize the institutional partners of the French Olympic selection to their “ send simple messages of congratulation, without use of Olympic properties or association with a commercial partner, limited to one message of encouragement and one message of congratulation per participant. »
The breakthrough is modest, but it exists. It constitutes a first step. It remains to be seen whether it will be followed by more spectacular progress, in the run-up to the Paris 2024 Games, where the pressure from athletes and their partners should be significantly greater.
Another unknown: the real effect of such a reform on the commercial opportunities of French athletes. Brice Guyart, the Olympic champion in individual foil at the Athens Games in 2004, now an employee of the COJO Paris 2024, explained it to Team : " This proposition serves all athletes who have no, or few, partners, so that they can offer opportunities to these non-Olympic sponsors. »
Will just one thank you message during the Games period be enough to convince potential partners to open their checkbooks? Doubtful but not impossible.
