2030 Winter Olympics organisers confirm departure of Edgar Grospiron as president

Earlier this year, during the Milano Cortina Winter Games, Edgar Grospiron nearly lost his post after a string of high-level exits. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

The organising committee for the 2030 French Alps Winter Olympics announced on Thursday that its president, Edgar Grospiron, is stepping down, 18 months after he took the role, intensifying scrutiny over the event’s governance.

Grospiron, the 1992 Olympic moguls gold medallist, had long been tipped to depart, and his exit was formally recorded at a meeting of the organising committee’s executive board. “The Executive Board of the Alps 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games has taken note of Edgar Grospiron’s decision to step down from his position as president,” the committee said in a statement.

“His decision to leave the presidency is part of a planned, organised and fully assumed transition, taken in the interest of the project and its governance,” it added. “It reflects a shared desire with stakeholders to enable the organising committee to move quickly into this new operational phase.”

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His departure comes six months after chief executive Cyril Linette resigned, pointing to “insurmountable disagreements” between the two; Vincent Roberti succeeded Linette in May.

Earlier this year, during the Milano Cortina Winter Games, Grospiron nearly lost his post after a string of high-level exits, according to a source familiar with the situation who spoke to Reuters on Wednesday.

Key stakeholders—the French government, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Auvergne-Rhône-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.

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That breakdown followed a fraught executive board meeting on July 23, when Grospiron attempted to force through two appointments, the source added. Two days later, French Olympic Committee president Amélie Oudéa-Castéra told La Tribune Dimanche that the project was “once again facing governance problems”.

Grospiron could not be reached immediately for comment. The organising committee said an extraordinary general assembly on September 14 will install an interim president while a permanent successor to Grospiron is appointed.