"I hope that over time, people will see the quality of the work being done," says former minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.

Minister of Sports at the time of the Paris Olympic Games, today President of the French National Olympic Committee, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra highlights the successes achieved and the battles fought, in the face of the mockery and controversy to which she has been subjected.

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Friday, July 26, 2024, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, with the Seine as the common thread, a parade of athletes, a silver horse, the National Guard singing alongside Aya Nakamura, Céline Dion on the Eiffel Tower... Amélie Oudéa-Castéra was still Minister of Sports at the time. "I believe that what the world will remember is that it was an absolutely extraordinary ceremony, grandiose, exceptional, a symbiosis of all the most beautiful dimensions of what we are, France ," the minister said. "I think that the image sent to the world will contribute to the attractiveness of France for years to come. We will remember it for a very long time."

In September 2024, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra is no longer a minister . A few months later, in June 2025, she is elected president of the CNOSF , the French National Olympic Committee, and sounds the alarm this summer about the 18% cut in funding allocated to sport in next year's budget, "a totally disproportionate effort," denounces the former Minister of Sports . "It's dangerous because it means sports educator jobs that we won't be able to renew, children that we won't be able to welcome, gymnasiums, swimming pools that we won't be able to build and clubs that will be weakened, the amateur clubs in our territories."

"At a time when we are very concerned about mental health, when we see the dependence of our youth on screens, sport is an opportunity."

Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, former Minister of Sports

to franceinfo

"We have achieved some fantastic things to begin building the sporting nation in the wake of our Olympic Games and thanks to their momentum. We really need to support the sports sector today."

She was a bit mocked when she swam in the Seine or hummed Aya Nakamura. "Aya Nakamura, I stood up, I was the first female politician to do so because she was the victim of racist attacks, and I very much regret that the trap that was then set for me made people forget that. But we saw at the opening ceremony what she was able to do with the Republican Guard on the Pont des Arts. The fact that she was able to sing 'DjaDja' in this ceremony was the best response to this mockery," replies Amélie Castéa-Oudéra.

"Swimming in the Seine was an extraordinary project. I wasn't invited by Anne Hidalgo to swim in Paris, so they wanted me to be able to show that the State was truly at the heart of this project," the former minister asserts. "As for the rest, it's never a pleasure, of course. It's also had an impact on my children, these are also times of suffering, and I hope that over time, people will see the quality of the work carried out, the commitment, the sincerity, and the authenticity. I think that's what they'll remember about me."

Her presidency of the CNOSF got off to a bad start, notably with a controversy surrounding her salary, 9,000 euros per month, according to Le Canard Enchaîné . "I will say it again very calmly but also very firmly : it is planned that I will receive a remuneration equivalent to the euro of what the previous president of the CNOSF received more than four years ago, without any revaluation, and without this causing any problems for anyone at the time."

"These are duties that I will be carrying out as my main job, so we really need to stop the controversies and unfair trials. I think I've given enough."

Amélie Castéa-Oudéra, former Minister of Sports

to franceinfo

And many challenges await Amélie Oudéa-Castéra as president of the CNOSF, such as preparing for the 2030 Winter Games, and, she says, bringing the voice of French sport to the public debate.