Olympic years are often conducive to palace revolutions. Heads change. The story moves forward. Despite the Tokyo Games being postponed for a year, 2021 was no exception.
Over the past twelve months, the Olympic movement has welcomed the departure of a handful of presidents of international federations or continental associations. For the most part, they left the place on their own initiative. In this category, we can cite the Swiss René Fasel in ice hockey (IIHF) and Gian Franco Kasper in skiing (FIS), the German Thomas Weikert in table tennis (ITTF), the Spaniard Jose Perurena in canoe-kayak (ICF ), the Uruguayan Julio César Maglione in swimming (FINA).
Among the newcomers, the jury of FrancsJeux chose Luc Tardif. The Franco-Canadian, elected last September as president of the IIHF, received 37% of the votes. Enough to beat the four other nominees: Swede Johan Eliasch, new president of the FIS (International Ski Federation); South African Patrice Motsepe, elected president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF); Swedish Petra Sörling, first woman to head the ITTF; Finnish Emma Terho, new president of the IOC Athletes' Commission.
By his own admission, Luc Tardif was not the favorite to succeed René Fasel, who had been in office for 27 years. The former professional ice hockey player, originally from Trois-Rivières in Quebec, living in France for more than 40 years, confided it to FrancsJeux during the campaign: I wasn't up for it at first. But I was asked to run as a candidate. I didn't want to stay in the waiting room. I wanted to be an actor"
After four rounds of voting, his audacity paid off. Luc Tardif beat his ultimate rival, the German Franz Reindl, by 67 votes to 39. The German was nevertheless presented as the favorite, to be supported by the Russian clan and designated by René Fasel. He also enjoyed home-field advantage, with the IIHF elective congress being held in St. Petersburg.
Aged 68, Luc Tardif built his career as a player and then as a sports manager without ever trying to push the pace. Former player, who passed through Canada in the university ranks, then the Netherlands, Belgium and France (Chamonix and Rouen), he became in 2006 the very first president of the French Ice Hockey Federation, after the departure of the discipline of the French Ice Sports Federation (FFSG).
Two years later, he joined the international body within the competitions committee. Then he joined the IIHF Council in 2012. Before taking up the presidential seat, he held the role of treasurer for five years.
Asked about his career on the evening of his victory in the election for the presidency of the IIHF, Luc Tardif explained without rolling mechanics: “ As in anything else, you put one foot in front of the other and, little by little, you make yourself known"
Appointed chef de mission of the French delegation to the Sochi 2014 and then PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games, Luc Tardif will experience the next Olympic event in a completely different position. The soon official announcement of the NHL's refusal to release its players will complicate its task. He hoped to take advantage of their presence to boost the practice of ice hockey in China, and more widely on the Asian continent. He will have to do without it. But the Franco-Canadian is not the man to let himself be defeated by a first hard blow.
