The subject has long been sensitive. It even turned into a standoff between the COJO Paris 2024 and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). But the controversy is now buried. In less than 260 days, the Olympic basketball tournament will begin in Lille, 200 km north of Paris, to continue and end in the capital.
At the helm of the discipline, within the organizing committee, Jérôme Rosenstiehl (photo above). FrancsJeux continues with this Alsatian, nourished since adolescence by a passion for basketball, its series of interviews with sports managers from the COJO Paris 2024.
FrancsJeux : Your life before COJO Paris 2024?
Jerome Rosenstiehl : I am a child of Strasbourg and basketball. I grew up and studied in the Alsatian city. I also played basketball there, a lot and for a long time. Then I participated for almost twenty years in the development and growth of SIG Strasbourg, a small neighborhood club arrived and established among the French elite, with a European adventure at stake. I moved up several ranks in the club, eventually taking on the position of executive director.
Your past experience of the Olympic Games?
I do not have one in a professional capacity, having joined the COJO Paris 2024 after the Tokyo 2020 Games. But I attended the London 2012 Games as a spectator. I had places for gymnastics, basketball, Athletics. A revelation.
A memorable memory from the Games?
The 1992 Barcelona Games and the first Dream Team. They had left their mark. I was captivated. For me, this team of stars, for the first time at the Games, was a founding act. It changed my life and gave direction to my career. Seeing them in front of my television, I told myself that I wanted to work in sports and basketball.
The file at the top of the pile on your desk?
The debriefing of the test event organized last September in Bercy, where gymnastics will take place in the first week, then the final phase of basketball in the second, and finally wheelchair basketball at the Paralympic Games. We took advantage of a gymnastics competition to test the transition between the two sports. It will be the shortest of the Olympic Games, only 17 hours 45 minutes between the end of gymnastics and the start of the final phase of basketball, but also the most demanding and ambitious because these two sports are not very close. We also tested the accessibility of Bercy during a wheelchair basketball match. The site is not used to this discipline, it was necessary to carry out player flow tests. We also made the toilets accessible.
Basketball venues: their strengths and challenges in the run-up to the Games?
With the Pierre-Mauroy stadium in Lille in the first week, for the group stage, then Bercy in the second, for the decisive matches, we have two very beautiful sites. Playing in Lille is an opportunity. The venue has hosted some of the biggest sporting events in France, including EuroBasket in 2015, the Davis Cup final in 2018, and more recently Rugby World Cup matches. The North is a basketball land. Bercy, for its part, remains the Mecca of sports arenas in France. The NBA came there this year. Between Lille and its 30.000 places, then Bercy, the combination of the two will bring us closer to the crowds for the Atlanta Games in 1996. In Lille, the athletes' village is currently being built. Located in Villeneuve d'Ascq, in a huge park around the stadium, it will become a student residence and will remain a legacy of the Games.
Paris 2024 will be a success for basketball if...
The Paris 2024 Games are already a success in their approach. They propose a new logic and an innovative approach, more responsible, focused on heritage. I am convinced that we will deliver an event of incredible quality and fervor. In terms of game quality, we are going to reach new heights. The best players in the world will be present. The Americans are preparing a historic team – LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry… – France will be vengeful, Serbia promises to be very strong, South Sudan will be one of the curiosities… For the Paralympic Games, the tournament of Armchair basketball will offer a new format, with fewer teams, only eight, for both men and women. We will truly have the best.
