French Alps 2030 Winter Games boss set to leave amid governance turmoil, source says
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Edgar Grospiron, president of the organising committee for the 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in the French Alps, is set to leave his post just 18 months after his appointment.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- Edgar Grospiron, president of the 2030 French Alps Winter Games organising committee, is set to leave amid governance disputes and senior leadership departures.
- Key stakeholders, including the French government and Olympic committees, cited broken trust with Grospiron after a tense July meeting.
- Grospiron's departure follows a rocky period since his 2025 appointment, including earlier crises and the exit of top officials like director-general Cyril Linette.
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PARIS – Edgar Grospiron, president of the organising committee for the 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in the French Alps, is set to leave his post just 18 months after his appointment, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Sept 9.
Negotiations are under way over the terms of his departure, which is backed at “the highest levels of the French State”, the source said, capping a rocky period marked by governance disputes and a string of senior departures.
The move is expected to be formalised at a meeting of the organising committee’s executive board on Sept 10.
The source, who declined to be named because of not being authorised to discuss the matter, said Grospiron had come close to being ousted during the Milano-Cortina Winter Games in February.
On that occasion, director-general Cyril Linette left instead, citing “insurmountable disagreements” with Grospiron.
Key Games stakeholders, including the French government, the Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur and Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes regions, and the French Olympic and Paralympic committees, CNOSF and CPSF, told the International Olympic Committee in late August that “trust had been broken” with Grospiron, the source said.
The rupture followed a tense executive board meeting on July 23 at which Grospiron sought to push through two appointments, the source added.
Two days later, French Olympic Committee president Amelie Oudea-Castera told La Tribune Dimanche that the project was “once again facing governance problems”.
Grospiron, the 1992 Olympic moguls champion, was appointed in February 2025 and had already faced a governance crisis earlier in 2026.
That culminated in Linette’s departure in February following a series of other senior exits, including those of the organising committee’s operations director and communications director. REUTERS