Drastic cuts to national sports are shaking the foundation of the Olympics

So shocking was the news that French sports officials walked out of a speech announcing a proposed 33 per cent budget cut to sports, from minister Marie Barsacq.

The news comes just months after the Paris Olympics, and ahead of France’s provisional commitment to host the 2030 Olympics. The prospect of such a deep cut has France’s national sports organizations reeling.

The cuts would certainly have an impact on the French Triathlon Federation, though it is not yet known what cuts it would have to make to address the shortage in funding. It is possible that some races open to elite and age group athletes hosted by the national federation could be in jeopardy.

A petition is circulating which has already amassed 425 signatures, including French Olympic Triathlon stars Leonie Periault and Pierre Le Corre. Periault finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics and has had several podium wins on the WTCS circuit. Le Corre is a two time Olympian, competing in Paris last year and previously in Rio. He also holds world championship titles in the long distance and mixed relay, as well as national and European titles.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) candidate and president of France’s national Olympic Committee, David Lappartient, wrote a scathing letter to Prime Minister Francois Bayrou. Lappartient called the proposed cuts “incomprehensible.” Following the Paris Olympics, sports in France surged by 20 per cent. The cuts could crush this momentum and impact the success of the 2030 Olympics.

France is not the only nation feeling the pinch economically in the sports arena. Canada has been stumbling along for some time with a stagnated budget lacking any significant increases in national funding for sports. The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) blasted the federal government last year calling the current situation a crisis. Overstreached and underfunded, the COC implored the government to increase financial support to national sport organizations to avoid the loss of services and programs.

The COC estimated Canada’s 61 national sports organizations required and injection of $104 million dollars annually, as cited in a study done by Deloitte and commissioned by the COC and Canadian Paralympic Committee (PCP). The two organizations point to a massive gap in financial support due to 19 years of inflation, the dry well of funds for issue-specific funding, and the increase of demands on national sports organization through its stakeholders. The last major funding injection was $20 million in 2005.

The US is not without its challenges as it faces the roll out of new executive orders from President Trump. A declaration that the country will now only recognize two official genders, male and female, is sure to spark fallout in the wide world of sports. This shift in culture could have a profound impact on sport brands like Fifa, which stand for social change, awareness and community building. The backlash could incite financial fallout as well as political and social. A question mark looms above the issue of direct cuts to sports funding as the country awaits the next move from its unpredictable leader.

As a trend towards defunding sports continues to spread globally, it raises questions about how national sports will support the holy grail of sporting pursuit, the Olympics. Lack of funding inevitably reduces the athlete pool, and if hosting the Olympics means a country must follow up that performance with a crushing blow to its national sports budget, how do the two end goals align?

The IOC’s mission statement embraces the values of excellence, respect and friendship. In describing its mandate, the organization stated “The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by education youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity, and fair play.”

As plays by government, sport organizations, national and international Olympic committees, and athletes continue to evolve in the court of public opinion, a crowd is anxiously gathering at the finish line to see who is ultimately victorious.