First Woman President for France NOC

(ATR) The French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) elects its first woman president.

Brigitte Henriques, 50, defeated three challengers on Tuesday, garnering 57.87 percent of the vote in the first round of the election.

Thierry Rey finished with 19.26 percent, Emmanuelle Bonnet-Oulaldj 16.05 percent and Patrice Martin 6.82 percent.

Henriques, a former soccer player who represented France 31 times between 1988 and 1997, has been serving as a CNOSF vice-president in charge of development and diversity of practices. She has been the deputy vice-president of the French Football Federation since 2017 after having been its secretary general since 2011. She is also the general secretary of the Fondaction du Football since 2014 and vice-president of the local organizing committee of the Women's World Cup in 2019.

"I will be the spokesperson for all sports, all federations, all members of the CNOSF, in their great diversity and richness," Henriques said. She dedicated her victory to all women.

Henriques is the fifth president of the CNOSF, which was formed in 1972 by merging the French Olympic Committee and the National Sports Committee. She succeeds Denis Masseglia, who was elected in 2009 and re-elected in 2013 and 2017. Masseglia had supported her candidacy.

She will be front and center over the next three years as France and Paris prepare to host the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics.

Paris 2024 president Tony Estanguet congratulated Henriques on Twitter, adding "Looking forward to launching this new chapter and making #Paris2024 a success, while continuing to promote the place of sport in France".

Homepage photo: CNOSF

Written by Gerard Farek

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