Paris 2024: ping-pong interview with two graduates

Paris 2024 is forty-five sports, including four new ones: sport climbing, breaking, skateboarding and surfing. The world's best specialists are competing in each discipline.

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But what happens if you ask two cyclists to let go of the handlebars for a ping pong racket? Yannick Rannou (BSB'08), Senior Mountain Bike Project Manager, and Clement Sanchez (BSB'22), event coordinator for part of the cycling events, start a match.

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Your first pedal strokes...

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Yannick Rannou: “Mountain biking in the Jura, inspired by nature and stimulated by my parents, who are themselves very sporty. Who led me until the French team in the 2000s. And in second place in the Hannibal raid with the ESC Dijon team. ”

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Clement Sanchez: “I do a lot of road cycling. But I am passionate about sports in general. For example, I have an incredible memory of the Canaries winning the Coupe de France 2022.”

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Your mission in Paris 2024...

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Clement Sanchez: “I coordinate the hosting of events at the sites and the organization of track cycling, BMX Racing and Mountain Bike (Mountain bike) sports competitions.”

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Yannick Rannou: “Attached to the sports department at Paris 2024, I manage technical operations on the mountain bike trail and in sports areas. I am in contact with the national teams, the international federation, the technical partners and our volunteers.”

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The difficult passages...

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Yannick Rannou: “We are starting from nothing. It was necessary to develop the Élancourt hill, a former quarry, in order to trace a top-level course and associate technical and user-friendly areas with the Olympic standard.”

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Clement Sanchez: “The multitude of interlocutors. Coordinating is a full-time challenge when you have to deal with federations, construction teams, teams attached to each of the sites, legal, financial, sustainable development and even ambient supporters.”

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The entrance into the light...

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Clement Sanchez: “The delivery of the spaces was scheduled for mid-July. We were lucky beforehand to be able to test BMX and mountain biking in real conditions, with even a reduced capacity for mountain biking. The feedback has been very good.”

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Yannick Rannou: “At the end of September we organized a full-scale Test Event with the best athletes in the world and spectators to test various parameters. A valuable experience in preparation for the Games.”

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Behind the scenes of the feat...

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Yannick Rannou: “All the sliders are pushed to the max. It really is a unique experience. No room for improvisation. Athletes are also under a lot of pressure. It's often the race of a lifetime.”

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Clement Sanchez: “The number of specialists and experts who look at every detail. This extreme requirement reminds us on a daily basis how extraordinary an event the Olympic Games are..”

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The most impressive...

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Clement Sanchez: “The brevity of the race in relation to the three years of preparation. It's three years of painstaking work for three hours of racing.”

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Yannick Rannou: “If we move away from mountain biking, I find that the performances of the Paralympic athletes are also breathtaking. An immense lesson in humility.”

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Bicycle or not, what are the predictions?

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Clement Sanchez: “Léon Marchand (swimming) and Armand Duplantis (pole vaulting) are winning thanks to their immense mastery of their subject. The French judokas are winning everything and the Lebrun brothers (ping pong) are coming to the top.”

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Yannick Rannou: “We're going back to mountain biking. Victor Koretzky wins. A tightrope walker on his bike. And, of course, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot for the girls! ”